The Woods Belong to Us

By Daryl Diddle

My family lived next door to the Bryer family for over 50 years. Last fall, her children long gone, the Bryer widow died, which meant that their house was sold over this past winter, and my mom got new neighbors: the Riddle family. Can you believe that on a street of six houses, the Riddles moved in next door to the Diddles? What are the odds?

Anyway, a few weeks ago, mom let us kids know that Mr. Riddle told her that the lawn she was mowing — that we’ve mowed for over 50 years — really belongs to him. He was certain, but we doubted it, so my sister looked up the maps online and discovered, in fact, that my mom actually owns more property than both she and Mr. Riddle thought. (I might say here that I’ve had a very nice conversation with Mr. Riddle, who was receptive to the truth about the property lines.)

In looking at those maps online, however, I was surprised to find something else. To the west of our house was (to me as a little kid) a vast, deep woods where my neighborhood friends and I loved to play. We cut trails, dug for treasure, built tree houses and bike paths … those sorts of things.

But every once in a while, there were some teenagers from the neighborhood who would come down in those woods and rather rudely kick us little kids out, and since they were older and bigger than we were, we always did what they said and left.

In looking at those property maps, I realized — for the first time — that my mom and dad owned all that property. My parents owned the woods that I was kicked out of by those teenagers. All that time, it was us who had the right to be there; not them!

If I had known that 50 years ago, I would not have let them intimidate me. I would not have let them threaten me. I would not have given in to their rude demands. Now, I may well have gotten beat up a few times, but just the same, I would have known that the truth was on my side, and so I would have seen the whole situation very differently.

The Owner’s Children

Why does all this matter? Because if you know, love and follow Jesus, then you need to understand that you are the child of the Owner of this world. All that you see … all of Creation … God made it and He owns it. His name is on the deed of the world’s property maps, and, as His child, you are an heir.

Now, because of the Fall, this world is filled with people who don’t know that. They think they own the world, and they think they can tell people what they can and can’t do, and what’s right and what’s wrong, and what’s good and what’s bad, and how people should and shouldn’t live.

Today, this world is full of people who are not children of God and have no right to do so, but still they tell everyone else where they can and can’t play. Some even go as far as to say the world has no real owner — that God doesn’t exist, or that the whole Judeo-Christian ethos and understanding and morality are wrong and misguided. They demonize. They try to tear apart whoever or whatever doesn’t let them play where they want, live how they choose, and determine right and wrong for themselves.

What the World Doesn’t Realize

You see, they just don’t realize:

1) that God made our world…

2) that He made it to work in certain ways…

3) that His Word explains all that and…

4) that He and His family — those who live for Him — own it all (even today)!

They don’t yet realize that the maps reveal the truth of the situation, but we who follow Jesus need to know the truth of what the maps say.

Of course, the world around us will not agree with the standards and morals of the children of God. In fact, the world around us, acting under the influence of Satan, our enemy, will try to convince us otherwise. They will say that those who believe in God … those who follow Jesus … those who stick with the biblical concepts of good and bad, and right and wrong … are close-minded, behind the times, hateful and worse! And if we stand our ground, they will insult us, marginalize us, and tell us we don’t belong.

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“Don’t let them steal your love.”

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In short, they’ll do all they can to try to kick us out of the woods. But we need to remember this: God owns the woods and, one day, that will be made plain. One day the maps will be revealed, and all those who think otherwise will realize the truth.

In the meantime, please don’t let those who say otherwise get to you. Don’t let them intimidate you. Don’t let them make you angry or bitter. Don’t let them steal your love.

Now, they can be very persuasive. They can be threatening and even violent, and we may have to pay a price for disagreeing with them. We may even get beat up! But they are ignorant of the truth. They are under the influence of the enemy, and they are mistaken about what they believe about wrong and right and who gets to determine that.

If we’ll explain all that to them compassionately and winsomely, if we’ll show them the maps, maybe they’ll listen. Then again, maybe they won’t. That’s up to them.

But as for us, no matter what happens, we who walk with Jesus can walk on in calm confidence that God, our Heavenly Father, made this world. He knows how it works. He knows what’s best, and as His heirs — as His children — it all belongs to us.

One day the maps will be opened, and we’ll be proven right. Those who chose to hang in there with Jesus will be on the right side — the living side — of eternity with Him.

So please remember that when someone calls you unsophisticated or narrow-minded.

Remember that when it seems that almost everyone around you believes differently than you believe.

Remember that Jesus said that those who truly follow Him would very often be at odds with this world (John 16:33).

But also remember that we are not alone. Jesus is with us, and so is the church — the family of God. One day it will be made clear to all that the woods really belong to us.

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