THE GRASS IS ALWAYS GREENER…

There’s an old saying. It’s always been spoken in reference to the dangers of envy or it’s been preached as a warning to the ungrateful person. I think it’s a set of wise words, but I believe that maybe it’s become too cliche to really be taken seriously these days. The phrase goes, “The grass is always greener on the other side.” You’ve probably heard it dozens of times in your life. I hear it in my head right now. It always makes me want to self evaluate and think of areas in my life that I am ungrateful or moments in my day that I take for granted. For whatever reason, I never really have joy bursting through my heart when that phrase is being pondered in my head. And I don’t think it’s really an uplifting moment when my response to the phrase is to shift my attention from the good things someone else has and focus (or settle) on the things in my life that I deem as not up to standard. It’s like I am tricking or guilting myself into believing my situation is just as good as everyone else’s. Sometimes it’s not.

I think with a little word tweaking and a solid understanding of truth, we can use that phrase (okay, it’ll be a completely different phrase when we’re done tweaking it) and have something that will keep us from ever having to redirect our hearts and minds again. It’ll be a completely different perspective. It’ll be like flattening out a path and pouring concrete over an area that used to be, after heavy rain and traffic, a place of rut and hazard. It could change the way you see your neighbor. It could change the way you see yourself. It could alter the way you interact with the world around you. Wow! I can imagine you on the edge of your seat, waiting with great anticipation, for this monumental bit of wisdom that you are expecting to explode from the words in the paragraphs to come…keep waiting.

I overheard my wife prophesying to a friend the other day and it really woke up my spirit. Her words of encouragement were simple. Yet powerful. She told my friend “The grass is greener where you are.” She continued to speak to his ability, as a carrier of the Kingdom of Heaven, to bring things to life wherever he goes. It was amazing. And I took that word for myself. It struck my heart so strong that I believe the Lord was also speaking to me. As a KINGDOM BRINGER, it does make sense that I would believe I have amazing power living inside of me. But do I believe it? I mean, do I really believe it? What if I believed that the words I speak could bring LIFE or death? If I only chose to speak LIFE words, shouldn’t I then expect to see more life around me? And what if I believed that I was really following Jesus, the one who desires to RESTORE all things? Shouldn’t I then expect, that by living a life that reflects what He did, restoration and growth and LIFE would be evident everywhere my feet tread.

I think what keeps us ever peeking over the fence and into the proverbial neighbor’s backyard in the first place is a simple matter of misunderstanding. I guess you could say it’s a perspective issue, but I would say it might be more of a matter of ignorance or lack of truthful information. In Luke 17:21, Jesus says “the Kingdom of God is not ‘here’ or ‘there’, it’s inside of you.” And in 1 Corinthians 4:20, the Apostle Paul says “the Kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of POWER.” That’s awesome! God, through the Holy Spirit, has placed inside of every believer His amazingly powerful Kingdom. What a privilege. But again, do I believe it? Or for the sake of equipping the readers of this, do YOU believe it? Do you believe that God trusts you so much that He would impart to you the privilege of walking and continuing the ministry that Jesus walked out. The ministry of reconciliation.

As I look out my window and into my back yard, it’s evident that a seasonal change is right around the corner. I’ve got patches of green grass rapidly sharing it’s color with the rest of my yard. Soon, with the help of the April showers and ever increasing sunlight, the entire ground will be brought to life and show signs of growth and health. It’ll soon be time to mow the grass on a regular basis. And I’ll be so focused on watering, mowing, weeding and maintaining my lawn that I won’t have time to even look at the yard next door. It’s just something I’ve come to expect. In the natural, it all makes sense. But, we are spirit people. Men and women created in the image of God. And there’s more to us and our purpose in this world than just natural.

So, I again go to the question of WHAT IF?. What if we really understood and believed that God wanted to use us to bring life? To encourage and maintain growth. To weed out things that didn’t match up with His RESTORATION plan and purpose. What if we believed that his love, through us, was changing the hearts and minds of the people we interacted with and pouring light into the dark places that we chose to walk into? What if I believed in and lived out the Kingdom in a way that God would align everything according to His will and standard? I’ll bet I’d be able to rejoice in the green grass that I was seeing in my own life. And I’d be able to celebrate the flourishing green grass in my neighbors life. It’s a matter of understanding why the grass is green. It’s a matter of knowing that inside of us is the WATER from the river of life and the LIGHT from the son. We have the opportunity to live a life of fruitfulness. So, I want to challenge you. Encourage you. Take some time, right now, to ask God if it’s true. If there really is a powerful, life giving, restoring, reconciling, AMAZING Kingdom living inside of you. See what He says and believe it. Then look around. The grass really is greener where YOU are.