Beating Around the Bush

Jesus' life was a storm of controversy. The apostles, like the prophets before them, could hardly go a day without controversy. Paul said that he debated daily in the marketplace. To avoid controversy is to avoid Christ. We can have peace, but it is a servile and carnal peace where truth is slain in the streets.  R.C. Sproul

If I fear to hold another to the highest goal because it is so much easier to avoid doing so, then I know nothing of Calvary love. Amy Carmichael

When we help seekers diagnose which path they're treading, assist them in avoiding its pitfalls, and expose them to the logic and evidence that uniquely support the Christian faith, we're introducing them to the only spiritual option that truly qualifies to be called the way, the truth, and the life.  Lee Strobel

All of us have probably heard the phrase “beating around the bush”.  This phrase is believed to have come from hunting.  When royalty would go hunting they would have servants take sticks and beat the bushes so that their prey would run out and then they could shoot them. The servants weren’t really supposed to beat around the bush; they were supposed to beat the bush.  The problem came in when there was a boar (or wild pig) in the bushes with long tusks.  No one wanted to be standing next to the bush when it came running out.  Hence, the phrase beating around the bush. 

I am not a hunter so if you are, please don’t take this wrong.  If I want to exhibit my skills as a great hunter, it would seem to me that it would be more of a challenge if you weren’t sitting around a bush waiting for a servant to beat it so that the animal or bird will fly out and you shoot it.

We have a friend that goes bow hunting every year.  Now that is a challenge.  A bow doesn’t have the range that a bullet does so I would think that would make the whole hunting thing more challenging because you would have to get closer to the animal to kill it. What happens when you get closer?  It runs and becomes harder to shoot.  I read somewhere recently that a company has designed a gun with GPS. Where’s the challenge in that and how does that work.  You type in your prey “deer” and then the lady comes on and says “in 20 feet make a left turn” and when you ignore her she says “make a legal u-turn at the next tree and Bambi is under the bush.”  Now that I have exhausted my lack of knowledge about hunting I will get back to the point of my story.

How many times do we beat around the bush with other Christians and non-Christians?  We see someone who is heading down the wrong path and we don’t speak up. We don’t want to hurt their feelings, or we think they will get offended or angry.  We don’t speak up because we are more worried about their opinion of us than God’s opinion.

When we don’t confront others “in love” about the wrong path they are taking, then we have compromised our faith.  Jesus didn’t die on a cross because he didn’t confront people.  He died “because” he wasn’t afraid to confront others in love.  His entire life on earth was one confrontation after another.  When we confront others in love, we are becoming more like Jesus.  None of us knows how long we have left on this earth, so I challenge you to take up your cross and follow Him.  There are souls left to save so don’t beat around the bush.

Prayer for the Day: Heavenly Father, I am guilty of beating around the bush or just plain avoiding confrontation that would benefit someone else.  I have opportunities that present themselves daily and yet I still don’t step up and claim You as my Savior.  Help me to be like You; not afraid to step out in faith on your behalf and theirs.

   

Scripture: The True Vine

“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.

“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.  John 15:1-8