Don't Let The Green Grass Fool You

Don’t Let The Green Grass Fool You

Scriptures: Psalm 1:1-3

Introduction

The title of my message this morning is “Don’t Let The Green Grass Fool You!” Some of you are old enough to remember the song with this title. Let me read the first verse of this song to you: “Girl, try to remember when we didn't have no shoes we stuck together, just me and you. It took a long time, to get what we got today, now ya wanna give it all up for another guy. Baby, I'm tellin' ya don't let the green grass fool ya, don't let it change your mind.” In this song a woman was leaving a man who had been with her when they had nothing for another man who had not gone through life’s struggles with her. We see that often when a man or woman married young and then decide that the person they “grew up” with needs to be traded in for a younger model. Remember what Solomon said in Proverbs chapter five about rejoicing with the wife of your youth? There is a reason for that advice! Also, if you recall from the Old Testament, this is the issue that God often had with the Children of Israel. He had brought them through everything and yet they continued to be fooled by the green grass of those around them to the point that they forgot what He had done for them! God said that they had committed adultery against Him when they desired the lifestyles of those around them and seeking their idols.

Our foundational Scripture is found in Psalm chapter one if you want to turn there and just bookmark it. I do not know where the term “the grass always looks greener on the other side” originated, but it goes to the heart of envy – our wishing that we had something that someone else has because it “appears” better than what we have. We are a society that thrives on comparison. We often look at the lives of others and determine based on “what we see” that their lives might actually be better than our own. As a matter of fact, their lives can be so good that we find ourselves wishing we were living their “good life.” We read magazines and books about the lives of the rich and shameless (famous) and we sit around wondering what it would be like to have all the money we need and be able to have instant recognition from the public. Bigger is often better and newer beats out old any day of the week plus on weekends. We strive and strive to get to greener pastures only to find that once we get there those pastures eventually look just like the ones we left! The grass may actually be green on the other side until we get there. If you are wondering why this is I will not keep you in suspense.

The grass that is in my yard might not look as green as my neighbor but who is “responsible” for my grass? I am the one responsible. So if my neighbor has the same type of grass that I have and his always looks greener than mine, then it must be something that I am not doing that’s making my grass less green. So let’s say my neighbor and I decided to switch houses because I really love his yard better than my own. Once I move into their house and start taking care of their yard just like I had been taking care of my old yard you know what will happen? That yard that looked greener from my side of the fence will now start looking like my old yard and my old yard (that is now being taken care of by my neighbor) will look better than my new yard. If I take care of my new yard like I took care of my old yard, my new yard will eventually become my old yard. Don’t let the green grass fool you! Yes the grass might look greener on the other side but that’s until we get there and kill it! You see, the greener grass might make me think it’s about the grass and thus fooling me into thinking it’s not about me or my actions in taking care of it! What I am telling you this morning is that our grass (lives) is in our hands and what we do with it is within our power. While we are staring at the green grass of our neighbors we become more disappointed with our own until we are ready to dump what we have to gain that of our neighbor. We get fooled by the grass in someone else yard which will make us “think” differently about our own grass. Many do not realize that they can have what others “appear” to have if they are willing to make the sacrifices to get it. However we often get fooled because what something appears to be is not always what it actually is.