So many weeds...
Last Saturday I spent a long overdue six hours in the garden. Not just over the winter but much of last year I neglected to keep us with the ever present weeds. As I sat on the dirt weeding all around me I pondered about weeds. At times I talked to God about weeds...after all he must have made them. But why? "God, Why do we need weeds?" (Same question goes for mosquitoes!) Have you thought about this too? I continued asking questions: "Why do weeds grow prolifically and plants struggle under the same conditions? Why do weeds return relentlessly even after the harshest of winters? Just wondering, Lord."
His answer...
Now I didn't hear an audible voice but had one of those random thoughts that pops in your mind when you talk to God or ponder in his Presence. The thought: Weeds resemble sin. Like weeds, sin doesn't need care of cultivating. If you let the first seedling of sin stay in the garden or youf life it soon multiplies. Sin grows fast, needs no feeding and is impossible to eradicate. Holiness and righteousness on the other hand require careful tending, constant minding and grow slowly. Sin easily overruns right living. Rigtheousness is hardy when you persist in it but when sin tenaciously persists, righteousness can fade fast. (Don't worry...I know theologically our positional holiness, righeousness and justification is unaffected once we've accepted Christ. I am talking about the day-to-day righteous living.)
Back to weeding...
So as I weeded both tall weeds with seeds in them ready to sow some more malice in my garden, and the little weeeds difficult to pick out especially with gloves on, I was reminded of the need to be equally ruthless with removing every aspect and presence of sin. Cutting the top off and just looking together leaves the roots unaffected and the evidence soon pops up again. Sin needs to be dug out continuously. We need to commit to keepig a clean garden.
Jesus said so...
In hindsight, this is not new news. Jesus taught about the good soil. Though he mentioned seeds only flourishing in good soil...it also means we need to make sure the soil of our heart and life are clean of weeds. To mix his parables...good soil is ready for good seed and produces 30, 60 and 100 times what was sown. But if we let the weeds remain in our garden then it chokes out the good and if the weeds get too tall we might not be able to figure out what is good and what is sin.
Back to weeding...
both in the garden and in my heart.
