Weeds in the Garden of Your Heart

Some time before we moved into our rental home, a previous occupant planted flowers -- annuals -- in areas around the house and yard. We were pleasantly surprised to find tulips, bleeding hearts, and irises growing as Spring finally came. And of course, once we realized we had actual flowers in our garden areas, we set about getting rid of the weeds.

We weed for obvious reasons. First, in a flower garden, weeds just aren't as pretty as the plants you want there -- in fact those weeds can ruin the image of the whole thing. They simply don't belong there, so when they pop up, they just throw off the aesthetics of the entire garden. In the case of a vegetable garden, weeding is even more important. Weeds steal nutrients needed by other plants, and ultimately can even crowd out and kill the vegetation you actually want. Weeds can destroy an entire lawn, even replacing the grass until all you have is a giant weed patch.

Sin is like that. We try to live as Jesus instructs us, to bring glory to Him... but those little sins pop up. Maybe at first, they're ignored. It's just one little sin. Maybe, like a dandelion, it even appears pleasing. Maybe you don't even know, at first, that it is a weed! But there it is. One tiny weed in the garden of your heart. It can't do that much damage. Maybe we even mow over it -- pray for forgiveness and then forget about it... until it pops up again. Then we pray again, ask God to forgive our little indiscretion.

Meanwhile, deep in the root system, where the Church isn't looking -- where you don't even look yourself -- that little weed is expanding its own roots. Slowly, it steals the nutrients from your Soul, subtly crowding it out, finding its way first into every little crack, and then expanding, expanding, growing into something quietly untamed.

What was one weed becomes two. Then three. They start to strangle a relationship. Then they keep a ministry from bearing fruit. And then, once you finally do kill them, they've already seeded for next season. Before long, your heart is so overrun, the weeds are all anyone can see. The garden you've cultivated -- your relationships, your ministry, your walk with God -- is obscured or even dying.

The good news is, we don't garden on our own. The same God who sows those seeds of faith and fellowship and ministry can also kill the weeds of sin.

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. (Romans 12:1-2)