Articles
Sin Is Like A Weed
Sin Is Like a Weed
How well have you managed the weeds in your yard? Do you leave that job to someone else, maybe a turf crew or landscape company? A gardener is challenged to keep those “pesky” weeds out every year. As beans, corn, and okra grows so do the weeds. No one plants, waters, or fertilizes weeds. They are in the ground and at the right time, they grow. Get out the hoe and the weed killer.
There is a much more important matter than weeds in your yard. It is temptation’s constant arrival every day, every week, and every month. Hebrews 12:1 describes it as “sin which clings so closely…” (ESV) or “sin which so easily entangles us” (NASV). We can be excellent at weed control, but are we good at temptation control?
Our lives will and can develop a pattern of habits, attitudes, and actions which are like weeds; entangling us and choking out the work God wants us to do and would do for Him (Luke 17:5-10). We know the “weeds” of daily living should be cut down, as God command Israel to cut down the idolatry in Canaan when they crossed the Jordan River (Deuteronomy 12:29-32). These “weeds” should not be allowed to move in and move out the hope of fruitful righteousness (Galatians 5:22,23).
James 1:14-16 shows the process of “weed” (temptation and sin) growth and its consequences. Refuse to feed, let its roots fasten in your heart, or allow it to embrace a territory overwhelming your life. The truth is, weeds spread. Sin spreads. Your neighbor may have a weed problem, and you wish they would do something to get rid of them, because you are trying to keep “your turf weed free”. Our spiritual life can be affected by the weeds in someone else’s life. Are you about to “embrace” their sinful life? Are you about to let those “weeds” in another person’s life take root in your heart as well? Yours and my temptations can be and need to be controlled. “For each man shall bear his own burden” (Galatians 6:5). May God help us see the temptations, uproot them, and not give them a place, for our life to bear fruit and yield eternal life.
