I've been mowing lawns since I was about six years old, so pushing a lawnmower -- or growing grass that must be mowed -- has sort of lost its shine for me. But because I love my wife (The Amazing Joanne) we have a lawn with grass, and I help work on it. This morning, I pulled weeds for an hour while it was still more-or-less cool outside. Adam was told in Genesis 3 after he rebelled in the perfect garden, "the ground is cursed because of you. All your life you will struggle to scratch a living from it. It will grow thorns and thistles for you..." So every time I dig or pull weeds, I remember that note. But it's not just the ground that grows harmful things; our minds and emotions do too.
In Hebrews 12:15, we're told " Look after each other so that none of you fails to receive the grace of God. Watch out that no poisonous root of bitterness grows up to trouble you, corrupting many." When we focus on a real or imagined hurt, and let that divide us from our friends and family, and from our family in Christ, we start believing that the hurt is more important than the relationship. That's a lie! But that lie has destroyed many friendships and family bonds.
Hurting others, or letting ourselves be poisoned by hurt, are two very common kinds of weed. There are many more: lust, greed, envy, anger, selfish ambition, idolatry (anything ahead of God in our lives) and so on. Galatians 5:16-21 tells us to be steered by the Spirit of God, not the fleshly pull that produces those weeds.
How do you destroy weeds? In a lawn, pulling or digging them out is one way. Another step is to feed the grass and make it so healthy that the weeds get choked out. No, seriously -- if the grass is good and strong, and covers all the available soil, there won't be any way for weed seeds to get rooted and grow. Gal. 5:22-26 gives us more: "But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!" Those are 'good grass,' the kind of thing God is himself, and that he wants in us. It goes on to say "Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to his cross and crucified them there. Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives." So, we're told to make sure we're really focusing on our Christian life, and that will produce the good results in life. That's both pro-active, by choosing to focus on God, and reactive, because God will continue to 'fertilize and water us' with his Word and his Spirit.
It's easy enough to get tired, and then lose our focus or ambition to live our whole lives focused on Christ. To let the TV or internet or idle ideas dominate our minds -- and that gives a spot for the weeds to take root. Then, they start blocking out the good results God wants in us, like weeds block the sun from the grass. So we need to keep on top of our day-to-day living, and let God water and fertilize us so our lives will be filled with the fruits of the Spirit -- not the weeds of the flesh.
Showing posts with label anger. Show all posts
Showing posts with label anger. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Weeds
I just pulled a few weeds from the cracks in the driveway. That reminded me of the sins -- ideas, habits and reactions -- that creep into our lives when we're not looking.
Yes, our sins are forgiven by Jesus' sacrifice, and we are brought into the loving communion of the Trinity through his work (not ours!). But that's never an excuse to allow sin to come back into our lives and injure us -- and others. It's important for us to keep our eyes open to those things that threaten our relationship with God and with each other.
Hebrews 12:1 says (right after the list of the people of faith in chapter 11) "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us." The Greek adjective translated 'trips us up' means anything that would slow us down and take our energy. The metaphor here for Christian life is an endurance race, not a sprint; so it's important not to let sin creep in and take away even a little energy, as that will have serious consequences over 'the long run.'
Later on in Hebrews 12, verse 15 says "Look after each other so that none of you fails to receive the grace of God. Watch out that no poisonous root of bitterness grows up to trouble you, corrupting many." Now, that's interesting: the writer tells us two things -- to not let bitterness come in and poison the relationships between us; also the command to "look after each other." I think one of the most serious 'weeds' that gets into our lives is offense and unforgiveness -- bitterness -- between us.
If we're considering where to find sin our lives -- and we should -- then looking carefully for conflict, or the leftovers of conflict like resentment against someone else, is vital. Too often (really, once is too often) Christians simply withdraw from each other, cutting off contact and communication, rather than working things out. That weed always grows, never dying by itself, and it spreads seeds that also grow, "corrupting many." We have to go after that sin and pull it out by the roots before it affects our brothers and sisters in the Lord.
Like weeds, sin is serious stuff. We need to surrender it to God and ask him for the help we need to get rid of it. How about searching your life this week for those 'weeds' that hurt you and those close to you? And how about forgiving -- really, deeply letting go -- of someone else's sin against you?
Yes, our sins are forgiven by Jesus' sacrifice, and we are brought into the loving communion of the Trinity through his work (not ours!). But that's never an excuse to allow sin to come back into our lives and injure us -- and others. It's important for us to keep our eyes open to those things that threaten our relationship with God and with each other.
Hebrews 12:1 says (right after the list of the people of faith in chapter 11) "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us." The Greek adjective translated 'trips us up' means anything that would slow us down and take our energy. The metaphor here for Christian life is an endurance race, not a sprint; so it's important not to let sin creep in and take away even a little energy, as that will have serious consequences over 'the long run.'
Later on in Hebrews 12, verse 15 says "Look after each other so that none of you fails to receive the grace of God. Watch out that no poisonous root of bitterness grows up to trouble you, corrupting many." Now, that's interesting: the writer tells us two things -- to not let bitterness come in and poison the relationships between us; also the command to "look after each other." I think one of the most serious 'weeds' that gets into our lives is offense and unforgiveness -- bitterness -- between us.
If we're considering where to find sin our lives -- and we should -- then looking carefully for conflict, or the leftovers of conflict like resentment against someone else, is vital. Too often (really, once is too often) Christians simply withdraw from each other, cutting off contact and communication, rather than working things out. That weed always grows, never dying by itself, and it spreads seeds that also grow, "corrupting many." We have to go after that sin and pull it out by the roots before it affects our brothers and sisters in the Lord.
Like weeds, sin is serious stuff. We need to surrender it to God and ask him for the help we need to get rid of it. How about searching your life this week for those 'weeds' that hurt you and those close to you? And how about forgiving -- really, deeply letting go -- of someone else's sin against you?
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