Seeds For Thinking

Link: http://seedsforthinking.oldgleaner.com/

Scripture: James wrote, “Faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.” (James 2:17)
Paul wrote, “ . . . walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God.” (Colossians 1:10 ) - NKJV

Oh, the mistakes I’ve made! I first learned that I had a special talent for this fine art of mistake making many years ago. There I sat, and all about me was the rapid-fire din of ‘clickety-clickety-clickety.’ I was producing more of a ‘clunk-clunk,’ but it was the mistakes more than the lack of speed that brought me down. It haunts me still.
I will not give up; I will persevere! Besides, I have to chuckle sometimes at the new words that I create as I type. For example, the letter ‘i’ is just one key to the right of the letter ‘u’ on the keyboard. So what if I transpose only one little key? After all, Sinday is almost Sunday, give or take a letter, and one wrong out of six isn’t so bad, now is it? My good intentions should count for something.
Still, good intentions didn’t help me one bit in that long ago typing class. I had to suffer the consequences, regardless. No, there are times when good intentions just don’t cut it.
It hath oft been quoted that the pathway to the ‘nether regions’ is paved with good intentions. So I suppose that I should do as I have done for decades now - back up, correct mistakes like Sinday, and run the trusty ol’ spell-checker on the computer. Spell checkers are not infallible, though. For example, although it caught my ‘Sinday’ typo, I am given spellings of ‘Sidney,‘ ‘Cindy,’ and even ‘cindery’ but not Sunday.
I also know that if I do the same ’i’ for ‘u’ letter substitution and write ‘bit’ when I meant ‘but,’ the spell-checker is perfectly happy. I could let it go at that, bit (but) it will not catch grammatical or contextual errors. Words need to be more than just ‘correct;’ they must have purpose to be useful.
Consider that I could put together a list of words at random, run the spell checker, and find them all correct. To what purpose? There would be no message, no thoughts communicated. It would be like a tree with lots of leaves, good leaves, but no fruit. ( See Mt. 21:18, 19)
Jesus wants us to be more than “good leaves.” He wants us to be “fruitful.” To have a purpose in His Kingdom. To do more than have ‘good intentions’ and merely wave gently in the breezes of life.
Though I have abundant faith in my spell checker, I must go beyond correct spelling alone if I wish to write something of worth and meaning.
So, too, I am called to be more than a “good man,” of correct moral character. That is commendable, but of itself is like leaves on a barren tree. I must bud, bloom, be pollinated by the Gospel, and become fruitful in every good work. I must associate with the Lord, to share in His works, to increase in the knowledge of Him.
July 31, 2005