{"id":175,"date":"2014-10-29T00:00:44","date_gmt":"2014-10-29T00:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/marklandbenson.org\/wp\/?p=175"},"modified":"2014-10-29T00:00:44","modified_gmt":"2014-10-29T00:00:44","slug":"autumn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/marklandbenson.org\/wp\/?p=175","title":{"rendered":"Autumn"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Please excuse my\u00a0abuse<\/em> of colors in this entry. They are all wonderful in their way. They just happen to provide such\u00a0colorful<\/em> illustrations!)<\/span><\/p>\n

In autumn, more darkness, less water, and chill air causes certain trees to lose their vibrant green. Chlorophyll production stops and, in a sense, the trees show their true colors. They show what is left when the good times of bright days, refreshing showers, and warm breezes end.<\/p>\n

(Color abuse ensues)<\/span><\/p>\n

Some trees show an angry red. Some show an apathetic brown. Some show a pouting purple.\u00a0Others\u00a0show a vibrant yellow or a brilliant orange. What is interesting is, by and large, you know just what color to expect by the type of tree that is put in the less than desirable state that is the onset of winter.<\/p>\n

Don’t people do very much the same thing? There are times of plenty where it is easy to shine. It is easy to be in a good mood when you have no money troubles. It is not hard to get along when no one goes against your wishes. A smile is not far away when you are receiving praise. When\u00a0winter<\/em> comes upon us and money is tight, others rub you the wrong way, or you are scandalously mistreated, then your true colors start to show. The longer you experience the darkness, the dryness, and the cold the more who you are down deep is revealed.<\/p>\n

Jesus commanded us\u00a0in Matthew 12:33<\/p>\n

Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Unlike a tree in the traditional sense where an acorn makes an oak tree, a maple seed a maple, and so on, Jesus tells us that he has provided the opportunity to transform us from one kind of tree to another. We may start as a angry red but the power of Christ can rework us into a brilliant orange.<\/p>\n

You may ask why God allows the winter at all (for He is sovereign over our lives). Should he not instead provide us immediate and eternal blessing from the moment we accept Him? Among other places, this question is addressed in 2 Peter 2 where Christ makes clear that He sees and cares that there are yet those who are lost and need an opportunity to accept salvation. After making clear that between our flesh and Spirit there is a war ranging inside us, He gives us the answer to why in the midst of the war there is also winter. In verse 12 He says through Peter<\/p>\n

Live such good lives among the pagans\u00a0that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The lost need to see our colors shine through to recognize Christ in us. They cannot see Him when we and the pagans all look so good in the easy times. When we are in trials and we don’t curse and flail and crash and burn like they do, the lost take notice–at least some. In that time when days are dark and dry and cold, when despite all circumstances you show a vibrant yellow or a brilliant orange, someone will ask you why. You are then given the opportunity (of a lifetime) to show the\u00a0way to the lost in kindness and humility. In that day they will have received what they need to become new and perhaps be one who welcomes you into eternal dwellings.<\/p>\n

In all this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that the proven genuineness of your faith\u2014of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire\u2014may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

1 Peter 1:6-7<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Please excuse my\u00a0abuse of colors in this entry. They are all wonderful in their way. They just happen to provide such\u00a0colorful illustrations!) In autumn, more darkness, less water, and chill air causes certain trees to lose their vibrant green. Chlorophyll production stops and, in a sense, the trees show their true colors. They show what […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/marklandbenson.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/marklandbenson.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/marklandbenson.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marklandbenson.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marklandbenson.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=175"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/marklandbenson.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":181,"href":"https:\/\/marklandbenson.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175\/revisions\/181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marklandbenson.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marklandbenson.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marklandbenson.org\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}