Build Your Fence

Fence:  1. archaic : a means of protection : defense

            2. a : a barrier intended to prevent escape or intrusion or to mark a boundary; especially :               

                  such a barrier made of posts and wire or boards

b : an immaterial barrier

Do you know you have a fence around you? No really! Well, maybe not in the literal sense, but it's there. Every day we go out in the the World, a world of Sin and Suffering and Pain. What do we have to protect us? How do we keep the harmful things from penetrating into our Core? 

Build a Fence!

Now I'm not talking about not going into the World. Jesus made it his purpose to Go into the World. I'm talking about keeping those things out that will harm us. 

A Spiritual Fence works in both ways of the definition above. 

1. To prevent escape

When I think of this my thoughts go to our urge to participate. Let's say we used to have a liquor problem. Having an intact fence can help keep Us from escaping our commitment to be sober and  indulging in that old habit.

   2. To prevent intrusion 

I think of my daily life. All the temptation that I experienced at my old job. I was constantly in people homes inspecting, giving estimates and eliminating pests.

Oh yeah, those kinds of pests. The one thing that was hard for me, and any guy, was the fact that 90% of the time I was in a house of apartment with a women. Usually married, sometimes a daughter. There really wasn't anything I could do about that, no matter how uncomfortable it was to be put in that situation. You know that old saying about "idle hands" and the devil? I had to build a fence around me to protect me from temptation. A fence that eventually I built so high that I didn't even notice when I was being flirted with. I can remember coming out of a house and a co-worker going on and on about how flirty the customer was with me. I had no clue because of my fence!

Sometimes the World batters our fence and it ends up like this:

Battered >>>>

Broken >>>>>   

Tore Down>>>  

Abused>>>>

Neglected>>

Jerusalem shows us how having a wall like the above will work out....

Nehemiah 2:17

Then I said to them, "You see the trouble we are in: Jerusalem lies in ruins, and its gates have been burned with fire. Come, let us rebuild the wall of Jerusalem, and we will no longer be in disgrace."

There's only one was to keep your fence maintained and looking great. There is only one way to protect ourselves from things getting in and ending up like Jerusalem did.

Build it with Glue and Stone??

Nope. Build it with:

<<<<<<This!

Proverbs 4:23

Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.

Colossians 3:1-2

If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.

1 Thessalonians 5:11

Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing(are you?).

Is your fence broken? Does it need repaired? Is it too short to keep sin out?

Build your Fence.

I'll help.

The Post.

The Post. Around 100 years old. Sitting at an intersection in the Deer Park suburb of Louisville, Kentucky.
I walked out of the guitar shop that this is in front of and it caught my eye right away. Two seconds later I was pulling out my phone and taking a picture of it.

Have you ever had one of this moments where you see something and BAM! your mind gets flooded with all of these thoughts and revelations? This was one of those moments for me.

Look at all of those staples. There must have been over a thousand starting about 7 feet high and going to about 2 feet off of the ground.

What must those signs have said?

Or?

I looked at this Post and I immediately thought of myself. We are very similar Mr. Post and I. We both have been around a while (him more than me), we both have seen many changes, and we both have had signs stapled to us.

Signs stapled to us that we had NO CONTROL over.....

Or maybe sometimes we had signs stapled to us (me) that we (I) did have control over.....

I think of all the labels I have had over the years. Some good, some bad.  It's makes me thing of some of the labels Jesus Christ has. Some good, some bad.

Saviour, Prince of Peace to some.
Terrorist, Usurper, and trouble maker to others.

We are a Post. Just like Mr. Post, we have, and will continue to be stapled too.

Some signs are stapled to us, other signs we staple on ourself.

I know that no matter how I act, some people will still staple signs that are untrue on me. But I know that for the signs I do have control over, the ones that I earn, will be good signs.

What signs do I want to earn?

Caring, Understanding, Christian, Confidante, Teacher, Selfless Giver, Unconditional Friend, Hope Inspirer, Hero, Loving Son, Loving Brother, Loving Husband, and some day...Father.

This is what I was:

And by the Merciful Grace of God this is what I am:

Notice the staples are still there. We all have scars of who we were and what we did in the past. They remind us of how we got to where we are. And warn us to never go back.

We all have this opportunity. What will you do? Keep your signs? Or ask Jesus Christ to wash the slate clean?

Here's to acquiring new signs and staples!!!