Corona Devo 439

When I think of the word "cling", one of the images that comes to my mind is of a kitten. Tiny and unsure with his developing claws latched onto a blanket or the shirt of someone holding him. Clinging on for dear life.

I also have a raggedy-looking comic strip taped to the inside of one of my kitchen cupboard doors. It has been there for about 14 years. It is a bedraggled mom with one child on her hip and dragging another on her ankle as she moves through her tasks. Her children are literally clinging to her. I hung it originally because it's how you feel sometimes when you have little ones. Children need direction, protection, comfort and safety and they cling to their parents for it.

This is exactly the image that God conjured up in my mind with today's scripture. We must cling to God and His word for our direction, protection, comfort and safety in this world. And somedays we have to cling on for dear life!

You must fear the Lord your God and worship him and cling to him. ~Deuteronomy 10:20

And the seeds that fell on the good soil represent honest, good-hearted people who hear God's word, cling to it, and patiently produce a harvest. ~Luke 8:15

We have most likely heard the parable of the sower. It refers to a bunch of seeds being planted in different environments and some of them never grow at all, some seeds sprout and then wither due to predators, environment or weeds, but some seeds thrive.

When explaining this parable to his disciples, Jesus was blatant in revealing that the seeds are us, and the difference-maker in the seeds that "thrived" was that they "were honest, goodhearted people who hear God's word, cling to it, and patiently produce a harvest".

Clinging to God and His word will cause us to thrive. There will always be outside factors attempting to thwart our growth in Christ, but clinging to God and His word is our recipe for success as we aspire to follow Jesus in our days. There is no miracle-grow solution for a Christian. There is no "pure soil" that we must find/locate/orchestrate to plant our feet, our home, or our family in. There is no secret-solution or magic potion. God gives us the simple advice to cling to Him and his word.

The Merriam Webster dictionary defines "cling" as: to adhere as if glued firmly/to hold on tightly or tenaciously/to have a strong emotional attachment or dependence.

Yes!, to each of these definitions as directly applied to our lives and faith clinging to God and His Word.

Clinging to God means to hold on to Him with all we have. To wrap ourselves around Him and His word, like my kids when they were small and they attached to me. To grip God and His word tightly and like our lives depend on it, just as the tiny kitten with new claws does.

Clinging to God and His word to seek Him for our direction, protection, comfort and safety. If our desire is to live lives that are pleasing to God and to be a blessing to others, then we must aspire to be honest, good-hearted people who hear God's word, cling to it and patiently produce a harvest (Luke 8:15).

Our kids are way too big to cling to my hip or ankle these days (two of them can pick ME up!), but I keep the tattered comic because it reminds me that we can cling to God and His word. He is our Heavenly Father, and we are His children. He is all that we need to cling-to for our direction, protection, comfort and safety. And somedays we have to cling on for dear life!

Today, as we hear God's word, let's also cling to it. ~Luke 8:15

Cling to Jesus today.

Blessings,

sarah

https://sarahsundy04.blogspot.com 



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