The Wiser Farmer

Wednesday, December 31, 1969

Two farmers each had a field. One night, their enemy sowed seeds of trees in their fields to hinder them from farming. The first farmer, aware of the situation, went ahead with his planting. The second farmer made the effort to rid his fields of the seeds before they could take root. Over time the first farmer had to continually deal with trees hindering his harvest, and had to go to extreme efforts to remove them. But the second man who took care of them when they were seeds, consistently had the better harvest, spending less time on wasteful things, and more time on things that bore good fruit. In the spiritual application, it takes much more energy to remove sin that you’ve let grow into habits and lifestyles. But if you deal with sin when it’s just a temptation, thought, or an inkling, you’ll spend less time focused on sin, and more time focused on bearing fruit for God’s harvest. So fight sin when it’s just a seed and you won’t have to spend years trying to remove trees. You’ll already have removed them when they were seeds. Be wise.

From Message #1049 - The Sledgehammer Principle