Weeds

Hybrid Morning Glory

When I first met our neighbors, they were just beginning to build their house next door to ours.  I was in the yard, pulling weeds, which seems like an endless chore.  That day I was tackling an invasion of wild morning glories that were growing on the fence between our house and our neighbor’s.  When I mentioned the morning glories to my neighbor, who was moving here from out of state, his comment was, “How pretty!”  I suppose he imagined the beautiful hybrid morning glories that you might plant from seed.  I’ve seen those morning glories – dark blue blooms the size of saucers.  But my new neighbor was not familiar with the wild morning glories that are nothing like those you deliberately plant in your flower garden.  The wild morning glories have lavender blooms that are not much more than one inch in diameter, their vines are very long and invasive, and they are just about impossible to kill without using chemicals.  Even though they look delicate, even pretty, when they first begin to appear in the spring, they will soon take over the landscape.  The vines will wind around the landscape plants, completely covering them, and eventually killing them. Their roots are thick, long, and succulent, branching underground to create more of the stubborn plants.  After they bloom, they produce many, many seeds which further enable them to multiply rapidly.

Just like the wild morning glories that creep into my flower garden, some things can creep into our lives that may appear to be harmless, perhaps even lovely or enjoyable.  But if they are allowed to grow, they can soon take over like weeds.

Think about habits or hurts that might have taken over your life.

He told them many things in parables, saying: “Listen! A sower went out to sow… Other seeds fell among the thorns, and they grew up and choked them… The seed sown among thorns is the person who hears the word, but worldly cares and the seductiveness of wealth choke the word, so it produces nothing (Matthew 13:3, 7, 22).”

Wild Morning Glory, Covering My Palms

Are there habits that first appeared to be small and harmless, but now have grown and taken over your time or your health?  Many people are addicted to their electronics.  I will admit that about a year ago, I broke the screen on my iPad and sent it off to be repaired.  No big deal, right?  It should not have been a big deal, but I found that I really, really missed my iPad!  Some people cannot have a meal without checking their phones to see if they have a message, or to send a text.  Phones and iPads, in and of themselves, are not bad.  No, they are a convenience that most all of us enjoy because they make our lives easier.  But to some people, they have become like weeds.  They have taken control of their lives.  Other people might have a habit of drugs, alcohol, shopping, overeating… the list goes on and on.  Any habit that we abuse and take in excess might be considered a weed in our lives.

For I don’t understand what I am doing.  For I do not do what I want—instead, I do what I hate … For I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my flesh. For I want to do the good, but I cannot do it. For I do not do the good I want, but I do the very evil I do not want! ... Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?  Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord (Romans 7:15, 18-19, 24-25a)!

Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its desires, and do not present your members to sin as instruments to be used for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who are alive from the dead and your members to God as instruments to be used for righteousness. For sin will have no mastery over you, because you are not under law but under grace (Romans 6:12-14).

Some people are harboring hurts, sometimes inflicted many years ago.  They are allowing a negative comment to keep them from achieving success because they are convinced they are inferior or inadequate.  Others are angry, unwilling to forgive a wrong done to them.  Those hurts that have not been allowed to heal are also like weeds.  These weeds will continue to grow unless they are uprooted by forgiveness and by trusting that God has a better plan.

I have experienced times of need and times of abundance. In any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of contentment, whether I go satisfied or hungry, have plenty or nothing. I am able to do all things through the one who strengthens me (Philippians 4:12-13).

‘For I know what I have planned for you,’ says the Lord. ‘I have plans to prosper you, not to harm you. I have plans to give you a future filled with hope. When you call out to me and come to me in prayer, I will hear your prayers. When you seek me in prayer and worship, you will find me available to you. If you seek me with all your heart and soul, I will make myself available to you,’ says the Lord (Jeremiah 29:11-14a).

You must put away all bitterness, anger, wrath, quarreling, and slanderous talk—indeed all malice. Instead, be kind to one another, compassionate, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ also forgave you (Ephesians 4:31-32).

Wild Morning Glory, Completely Covering My Hedge

Weeds can be just as destructive when they grow in our churches.  False doctrine is a weed that we really need to watch out for and eliminate before it grows out of control.  We need to be careful to remember that we were created in the image of God, and we cannot create a god in our image, to suit what we might think he should be.  For example, I hear a lot of people say that God is love, and He would never send anyone to hell.  That sounds nice, but it is false doctrine. 

The one who believes in Him is not condemned. The one who does not believe has been condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only Son of God (John 3:18).

Another weed of false doctrine is when people say that Jesus was a good man, a prophet, but they deny his deity. Jesus said that He and The Father are One.  So He was either a lunatic, a liar, or He was who He said He was.

Jesus replied, “I told you and you do not believe. The deeds I do in my Father’s name testify about me. But you refuse to believe because you are not my sheep. My sheep listen to my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish; no one will snatch them from my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one can snatch them from my Father’s hand. The Father and I are one (John 10:25-30).”

The way to know false doctrine when you hear it is to compare it to what the Bible says.  We know that the Bible will never contradict itself, and that is why we use scripture to interpret scripture.  If you read a passage that you do not understand or that confuses you, look for more scripture on the same subject to clarify what you have read.  If you still have trouble understanding, talk to your pastor, Bible study teacher, or a trusted mentor.  Ask God to clarify it for you.  He wants you to understand His word, and He will help you to grow in the knowledge of His word.

But if anyone is deficient in wisdom, he should ask God, who gives to all generously and without reprimand, and it will be given to him (James 1:5).

In my heart I store up your words, so I might not sin against you (Psalm 119:11).

Your word is a lamp to walk by, and a light to illumine my path (Psalm 119:105).

Every scripture is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the person dedicated to God may be capable and equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3:16-17).

I hope this week you will spend some time pulling the weeds from your “garden.”  Jesus said, “Every plant that my heavenly Father did not plant will be uprooted (Matthew 15:13).  Jesus was talking about the Pharisees who took such pride in their religious rules, but who didn’t recognize the Son of God when He was in their midst.  They let the weeds of religious habits overrun the gardens of their hearts to the point that they could not even see their long-awaited Messiah when He was standing right in front of them!  Take the time to look at the things that are overrunning your spiritual life.  Are they keeping you from seeing what God has planned for you?

My prayer for you and for me this week is taken from Matthew 13:8-9, 23 --

Dear Heavenly Father,
(Help us to be the like the)“… other seeds  (that) fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundred times as much, some sixty, and some thirty. (Give us ears to) listen! (Help us to be those) who hear the word and understand. (Cause us to) bear fruit, yielding a hundred, sixty, or thirty times what was sown.”

All Scripture references are from the New English Translation.