Living Weed Free

When we as a family moved to the country in 2000, I quickly learned some of the difficulties involved in the care of a garden. Our soil is rich clay soil, so I don't have a lot of problems with growing vegetation. Our soil was very rich yet still we were plagued with problems. Bugs, and mold played a part later on. But there was bigger and more pressing problem—weeds!

There was the giant weeds that had had time to put down deep roots and had to be dug out. Then there was the weeds that spread from the edge of the garden and intertwined with everything. Then, thankfully, there was the small seedlings that could easily be quashed, if caught early enough.

It is easy to see the spiritual analogy here. In Luke 8:5-15 Jesus tells a Parable referred to as “The Sower and The Seed”. We see in this parable there are four actions that can be taken when the word of God is preached. They are, listed along with there analogies: (1)By the wayside-turn away/ignore, (2) A Rock-No Root Only lasts a short time, (3)Among thorns-choked by cares (4)Good Ground-take root in the heart.

The weeds in this passage referred to as the cares of this world, are anything that gets in the way of our relationship with God. These are not necessarily sins, and in fact the passage doesn't even make it clear whether or not this person is saved. Yet we do know that Jesus said in a later passage “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.” (Luke 9:23)

It is clear that we need to let go of everything in this life, in order to hold onto what is everlasting. But those “thorns” are hard for us to get away from. Even when we have excepted Christ, on one level we seek to do his will and make him our all and all. But the circumstances of life come in, we then take our focus off of God, and we get distracted.

This happened to Simon Peter. He was following Jesus, he even told him, “If everyone else forsake you, I will never forsake you.” and within a few hours he found himself denying that he ever new the man Christ Jesus.

So what do we do about these things in our lives? That is what this blog is about. It is about the circumstances that will drive us closer to God or drive us further away from God. It is about what we can do to be conformed to the image of Christ. And ultimately it is about a great and wonderful savior that loves us so much that he cannot leave us where we are.