Taking back the garden!

Photo courtest  al71,
 rgbstock.com

It's 3:43 AM and I can't sleep, so of course, I'm on my computer. It's a great time to catch up on reading blogs that I follow. One of my favorites is Christian Blog Devotionals, written by Debra Torres. This morning's devotional was about the snakes in her garden and how they almost chased her out of the berry patch until she remembered the truth about dealing with things that frighten us.

She then drew an artful correlation between dealing with those snakes and dealing with Satan, the lies he tells us and how the truth of God will set us free from those lies and the fear they instill in us.

Debra tells it much better than I, so do yourself a favor and pop over to her blog and read this wonderfully written devotional. I loved it and I think you will, too, but while reading it, I thought of another analogy, so here I sit, in the wee hours of the morning blogging about snakes in the garden.

I'm with Deb. As much as I love strawberries, if I saw snakes in the berry patch, I'd probably want to run the other way and leave all those luscious strawberries to the snakes. What a shame that would be. I love strawberries!

It reminded me of when I first discovered the internet. I was intrigued by the fact that I could sit in my house and converse with someone halfway around the world. Someone I'd probably never meet in person. And I loved the fact that people seemed much more open to speaking freely about spiritual matters over the internet. I immediately saw the 'net as a tool to be used for sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ and the love of God with those who might never have heard it.

I almost couldn't contain my excitement. I remember gushing to my aunt about this new (to me) technology only to hear her say, "The internet is a tool of the devil and Christians should stay out of it."

I thought about that later. About how Christians tend to shy away from technology because them consider them "tools of the devil."  That's how folks thought about radio, television and movies  years ago. "Real" Christians didn't have them in their homes or visit the Cinema..

I wondered...if Christians had gotten involved from the very start and produced quality, family programing with godly values, would television and Hollywood look the same as it does today? I certainly can't argue that most of what the entertainment industry is cranking out these days reflects more of Satan's influence than God's influence, but why did we give this whole technology over to the secular world rather than recognize it as a means to effective evangelism.

That's how I see the internet. Sure it's riddled with pornography, scams and ungodly influence. The devil will invade the "garden" every chance he gets, but it's also ripe with Christian web sites, blogs and resources for those who are seeking the truth about God and those who want to share it. And it's bearing fruit. People are getting saved every day because someone shared the truth with them over the internet. Should we just turn it all over to the devil?

Snakes like a garden because it's easy to hide in the dark undergrowth of vines and leaves of the fruits and vegetables we plant. I say we stand our ground, weed our gardens to expose their dark hiding places, expose them to the light and chase them away. Then we can enjoy the fruits of our labors. We're not going to be frightened away.

There's a world out there that needs to know that God loves them. That He sent His Son, Jesus Christ to be the sacrifice for the sin that separates them from a relationship with their Heavenly Father. There are Christians around the world that need encouragement and support and there are believers who have been gifted with communication skills that need a way to use those skills to share the Good News with others.

We have it!

It's the internet. It's affordable and it reaches around the world in an instant. It's a great tool for ministering to others. It can be used to reach and teach those you may never meet and those who are closest to you.

Blogging is the easiest, least expensive way I know to share Christ with the world...and that's why I'm blogging in the middle of the night...well, that and the fact that I can't sleep.

If you would like to start a blog of your own, it's easy. Just hop on over to Blogger and start a free blog and if you have any questions, feel free to contact me. I love to help others share their faith over the internet.

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(Copyright© 2012 Jan Christiansen. All rights reserved.)