Discipleship

Changing the Strings

/ pastorpete51 / 1 Comment 
No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. Hebrews 12:11 NIV

Changing the strings is my least favorite chore as a guitar player. I imagine there are players who pay someone else to do this for them, but over nearly sixty years, I have only had it done once and that during repairs. As I was wrestling away with unwinding the old strings, to make way for a new set yesterday, it struck me that God’s discipline in our lives is sometimes a lot like that process. For non-guitar folks out there, the simple truth is that our instruments do not stay tuned for long. After playing for even for twenty minutes, our instrument already is needing a twist or two on the tuning pegs. When play regularly, over three or four months we discover that even after a careful retuning, that the tone is sounding blah. Yes, the newer strings last a lot longer than what we had back in the sixties, but even our latest and greatest have a lifespan. The time for that new set makes itself known when you see a bit of a shredding here and there on the bass strings.

The same thing happens our own lives and unwelcome as the process is, God chooses seasons of restringing, which the Bible calls discipline. Just as with my guitar, restringing doesn’t mean I am mad at my instrument, nor am I contemplating trading it in for a new model. God’s discipline indicates that a simple retuning will no longer do. He knows what we need is a whole new set of circumstances, better friends, a new job or (you fill in the blank.} And just like restringing, discipline means both the long slow process of unwinding the old, as well as the tedious stretching and tensioning of the new. Relationships, habits or opinions that God intends to change have been there a long time and loosening them and pulling them out doesn’t happen in an instant. We moan and groan as God slowly pries our fingers loose from what we are dearly clinging on to, because we have difficulty trusting that the new set of strings that He has for us will sound far sweeter. But wait there’s more! But you will need to tune in for tomorrow’s post to hear the rest of the story!

Editing Advice from the Orchard – Part 3 – Removing that Fire Blight

/ pastorpete51 / 1 Comment 
This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. 
John 15:8 NIV

Finally, we come to the last and most difficult things to prune and those are the diseased branches. In apple trees these are branches infected with a bacteria called fire blight, and every old tree has a little. Though there is no known cure, a careful pruning can extend the life of a tree for years. If the sucker growth is the most obnoxious, and the deadwood most obvious, diseased branches as well as diseased writing, is the most obtuse to deal with. You see, sucker growth will never bear fruit and deadwood cannot bear fruit, but blighted limbs may still produce a few withered looking apples. In our writing, disease is not about the double negatives, misspelled words or run on sentences, it has to do with the why’s of our craft and the motives behind our manuscripts.

Photo by Zen Chung on Pexels.com

If we are just churning out slick stories that appeal to the lowest desires of readers, there may be a bit of fire light creeping in. When we start finger pointing at the faults of others or stirring people to angry debate instead of compassionate service, it is time to ask God to heal our hearts. Eventually a blighted heart will catch up with us, and if left unchecked, will destroy the very purpose for which God called us to write. The secret is that just as trimming in the orchard is done in the Winter, God will choose the Wintertime in our life to root out a diseased direction. And in the editing of our writing, we will work best once the heat of inspiration has worn off and we can come to our pages, with passionless eyes, sharp pencils, and a determination to clear out everything that hampers a great harvest. Then we need to pray that the words we put on the pages of our life as well as our manuscripts will inspire readers to trust in God’s promises, grow in His grace and be filled with the hope that comes only from Him!

Sold Out!

/ pastorpete51 / 3 Comments 
“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. 
Matthew 13:44 ESV


When I worked in a grocery store in days long before optical scanners and when no one imagined our store being open on Sundays, Saturday was the number one shopping day of the week. That meant that on Friday afternoons I was assigned to make sure that my aisles were stocked and ready for the morning mayhem when the housewives of West Plains Missouri could empty the shelves faster than I could restock! Then also meant that when the doors opened again on Monday, most of our shelves stood empty. We were sold out until I could drive to the warehouse for more merchandise.


That kind of “sold out” was an avalanche of circumstances that took a weekend to experience. The “sold out” that Jesus teaches us about is not something that happens in a single prayer at the altar or over a weekend retreat. That kind of sold out for the kingdom of God takes a lifetime. The only things of value that we have to give are our days and we must sell them one by one if we are to have the treasure hidden in a field. When we have no further claims in this world to hold and we sell our last day, then we will take full possession of Jesus Christ our only inheritance and our treasure. Then we will have the full field and we will be hidden with Him in The Kingdom of Heaven forever!