Anyone who has done yard work has probably spent time thinking about how life is full of weeds. They spring up anywhere there is a bare spot and multiply quickly. Unlike the fragile grass that we try to grow, weeds are strong and resilient.
Our lives are full of weeds. Bad habits, patterns and thoughts. It’s easy to grow them and it’s hard to root them out. You have to get to the very bottom of the root to make sure it doesn’t grow back. It’s time consuming and takes great effort to get rid of the weeds.
One mistake we were making with our yard was to assume that getting the weed out was enough. Instead of grass growing there, another weed would quickly take its place because nothing good was put there to grow. Now we know to put some grass seed in wherever we root out a weed so something healthy will take its place.
It’s like that with our lives. We cannot simply stop bad patterns, but need to replace them with good. We need to work hard and fast at them, making sure they don’t multiply by going to seed.
Jesus says in Luke 11, 23"He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me, scatters.” We need to draw near to Jesus so he can take the place of the weeds in our lives.
In Luke 11, Jesus explains what happens when evil is gotten rid of and nothing takes its place.
24"When an evil[h] spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, 'I will return to the house I left.' 25When it arrives, it finds the house swept clean and put in order. 26Then it goes and takes seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first."
Dear Jesus,
Let your truth be the good seed in the yard of my life. Help me to root out the weeds, but don’t leave empty holes to be filled with more weeds. Instead, fill my life with You. I love you. Amen
1 comment:
I was just thinking about this the other day, too, as I was weeding our garden. A couple things that struck me: weeds are after our lives because we are like spiritual dirt. God has designed us to grow things. Weeds compete with good seed because both want to grow. The more good dirt you have in your life, the more weeds will try to grow in your life. Spiritual discipline is like weeding your garden. No super saint is going to be impervious to the possibility of weeds. There's never a time when you won't be doing some weeding.
the second thing I thought about was that we, as spiritual "yards of dirt," can also be platforms for weeds spreading into other yards. If we let weeds grow all over us, pretty soon seeds from the weeds in OUR lives will be flung into the lives of the people who are near us... Another reason to do spiritual weeding!
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