Morning again.
Well we are nearly at the Christmas break and for me at work there seems to be a lot of Christmas parties, dinners, getting togethers etc.
It truly is amazing how much gossip and news can be heard at a Christmas party,
Matthew 13 vs 4-9 says “As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants.Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. He who has ears, let him hear.”
Jesus describes quite a number of variables here, and we could add such things as weather, insects, viruses, molds, parasites, soil quality, and seed quality.
What happens when we plant an apple seed? In time, the seed grows into a mature tree, which produces far more than just one apple. Probably, it will produce many apples for many years. The apples fall to the ground or are carried away —sometimes very far away in the stomach of a bird or other animal. New seeds are then deposited on the ground, and the “spreading” cycle begins again to be repeated almost endlessly. Of course, there are some challenges to this process, but where the factors are right, both apple trees and their fruit can increase more than we can ever know.
Suppose someone plants a choice morsel of gossip into another’s ear at the office Christmas party. If that sin falls on fertile “ground” (a person who is ideal for carrying it to others without worrying about the consequences), who knows how much destruction can be caused! If that person tells ten others, and these in turn tell ten more, in three cycles one thousand people are involved in this sin! It is entirely possible that not even one person in that thousand would see himself as a cog in the process of spreading potential destruction!
Paul confirms this in II Timothy 2:16-17. “But shun profane and vain babblings, for they will increase to more ungodliness. And their message will spread like cancer.” The New English Bible translates that last sentence as, “The infection of their teaching will spread like a gangrene.” Conduct like this will bear bad fruit because human nature provides very few blockages to sin. Human nature can produce nothing else, as Paul writes in Romans 8:6, “For to be carnally minded is death.” To add to the tragedy, human nature almost always drags others into its curse along the way to death.
So do enjoy the Christmas party – but as a Christian do take care as well! 🙂
Mark
achristianatwork.wordpress.com 