Blown About Like Bale Wrap

            On a blustery day, I began crossing the Belford Bridge spanning the Arkansas River. I glimpsed something small moving chaotically from side to side on the bridge. Seeing the light blue color, I deduced it must be discarded bale wrapping. As I approached the east end of the bridge, the useless wrapping from a big, round bale twisted wildly, being propelled mercilessly in the gusts of wind off the river. 

Stored hay in the protective bale wrapping;
Dave Goad began processing Mother's hay
when her nephew, Tim Gates, retired.

As I drove off the bridge into Pawnee County, a phrase by the Apostle Paul came to mind. He wrote it to the early Christians at Ephesus. The phrase that came to my mind was, “no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine.”

In Ephesians 4:11-16, Paul asserted to the young believers the importance of good pastors and teachers shepherding and teaching the saints –one in whom Christ dwells. Receiving this teaching resulted in building up the entire body or congregation in the early Ephesian church. Paul explained that we should not be childlike in our understanding. We love the impulsiveness of children, but that same characteristic, in an adult, leads to poor decisions, a naivety and gullibility, falling for unscrupulous ideologies and being misled by deceptive shysters of spiritual truths.

Paul challenged the Ephesians to grow in Christ, the head of the church. Their growth led to being able to speak the truth in love. 
In this way, we can each contribute using the giftedness the Holy Spirit has endowed on each believer. The whole congregation will grow strong in Biblical doctrine, the basis of our faith, and benefit from our willingness to serve.

May each of us who are in Jesus take measures every day to grow stronger in Him. We never want to be a spiritual lightweight like the little, discarded bale wrapping. In our spiritual lives, we do not want to be blown around from one concocted philosophy or ideology based on obscure passages plucked from scripture and crafted by a deceptive, self-proclaimed founder to get followers. 
          Let the visualization of that piece of bale wrap being blown all over the river bridge spur us to study purposefully His Word each day. Biblical meditation provides stabilizing growth in the power of His might. Nothing can better prepare us for facing the turbulent winds of life.