It was a beautiful Saturday morning and I set about the chore that had been recently ignored. In preparation for spring, the garden had been worked. The soil turned and all of those pesky weeds removed. What I had hoped would be beautiful flowers had been added, but the preparation had not been completed. On this Saturday morning, three weeks after planting the flowers, the chore was to remove all the weeds that had reappeared so quickly.
Today’s task included meticulously pulling each and every weed found in the garden in hopes they would not be returning any time soon. Following the removal of all weeds, I laid down a soaker hose so that the plants could be watered on a regular basis thus helping them flourish. After the hose, the garden was treated with Preen (a pre-emulsion agent to prevent the seeds of new weeds from germinating and growing in the garden). Finally, after all the other chores were complete, it was time to add mulch as a covering to the garden helping keep the moisture in and all of the other bad stuff out.
When I was done with my work God began showing me how it resembled my life. The freshly turned soil ready for new plants was actually me as a believer and the flowers that were planted were lessons learned through my walk with Christ that were now appearing as fruits of the spirit in my life (Galatians 5:22). The soaker hose represents fellowshipping with other believers (Acts 2:42) and attending church regularly to be fed from the pulpit and in group study. The Preen represents personal discipleship and study so that we can grow in our personal walk of abiding in the Savior (John 3:36). Finally, the mulch represents the full armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-17).
At last, I thought I was done and the garden was ready for the year. Then, a couple of days later, I noticed it. A single weed was poking its head through the mulch. It was a type of grass that had been prolific in the previous batch of weeds I had removed from the garden. I reached down to pull it out and it simply broke off in my hand. I pushed back some of the mulch to discover that the grass had started spreading its leaves under the mulch and required more effort than just a simple pluck to remove. I knew that if I didn’t get the whole plant and remove it from the roots, it would eventually take over my garden again.
That’s when God brought out the rest of the lesson. The weeds I thought I had so meticulously removed represented sin in our lives. We may do a massive overhaul and clean up obvious areas of our lives, but even when we have the full armor of God on, we are still sinful beings and sin can reappear in our lives. Sometimes, it will grow under the surface and attempt to take a foothold (i.e. thoughts) before we ever see it. And the worst part is, if we don’t deal with the sin and do our best, with God’s help, to remove the sin, it will ultimately take over lives.
Is your garden ready? Are you displaying the fruits of the spirit in your life? Are you consistently fellowshipping with other believers and being fed through the teaching you receive at church? Are you growing through personal study? Are you facing each new day by putting on the full armor of God? Are you on the lookout for sin in your life that you need to address?
Take refuge, regardless of what the activity is that needs addressing in your life, remember that we have the Holy Spirit to provide direction, a blessed Savior who paid the price for all of our needs and a loving Father who is always seeking us out to renew our relationship with Him.
