Weeding

See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. Hebrews 12:15

I was out weeding my flower beds this week for as long as I could stand the heat. Yard work is very therapeutic for me, and as I was weeding, I thought of all kinds of cool spiritual analogies.

Weeds must be pulled up by the roots, or they will continue to grow. If there is anger, bitterness or another sin growing in us, it’s not enough just to get rid of it at the surface. We must get to the source of it and allow God to remove it from our hearts.

It is easier to weed if you do it regularly. Small weeds are easier to pull up than big weeds. We need to examine ourselves often to see if there are any "weeds" in our lives and get rid of them. Small problems (i.e. in relationships) are easier to deal with before they become big problems.

Sometimes it’s hard to tell the weeds from the real plants. There is a lot of "feel good" stuff going around right now. Oprah, for example, is promoting things that look like the truth at first glance, but on closer examination, they are not God’s truth. Jesus says salvation

comes only through Him (John 14:6). Anything that says otherwise is a dangerous weed that needs to be removed. The better we know our plants (God’s word), the easier it will be for us to identify the weeds.

A garden that doesn’t get weeded regularly is not pretty. What’s the point of planting flowers if we’re going to let them get overrun with weeds? We also need to keep our lives "weeded" so they will be a beautiful model of who God created us to be.