by Greg Kennedy
There is up here in the mountains of Colorado a little critter that is called a bud worm. It measures out at a whopping one inch in length and it seems to survive a trifling three weeks. But that tiny insect can devastate a hundred foot tall Douglas Fir in a matter of days. The bud worm’s idea of a good meal is the new spring growth on these Doug Firs; this insect is thoroughly true to its name.
The only reason I bring your attention to the bud worm is that attacks on new growth aren’t limited to the Douglas Firs in the Pike National Forest. At SonScape, one of our primary hopes is to encourage new growth in the lives of Christian leaders. We are committed to this work in spite of the knowledge that new growth is the most vulnerable kind of life anyone possesses. We pursue this goal knowing “the thief comes to steal and kill and destroy.” We do this because new growth is the life blood for a Christian leader. A pastor without this vital spirit, this living hope, is like one of our Douglas Firs stripped of its needles – pitiful.
Sometimes our Enemy is obvious – a roaring lion as Peter writes; but more often the attacks of the enemy are hard to notice – that is until it’s too late. The adversary is nothing if not strategic; new growth is the easiest meal and small attacks are the hardest to discern. Our constant encouragement is to be fiercely protective of that new growth and the new commitments that nourish it and to encourage and pray for one another.
The Bible is full of metaphors of Christian life being compared to life in the natural world. We read in Matthew, Mark, and Luke about the need for healthy soil; in John we read of the branches’ need for a vital connection with the vine; and in the prophets we hear the voices of Amos and Joel warn of the locust eating the growth. There is nothing new about our vulnerability; it just isn’t a concern that we see as vital in our current circumstance. So consider anew Peter’s admonition in that roaring lion passage: be alert, disciplined, and steadfast in your resistance to these threats to life and joy.