Motivational Monday: A Lesson in the Weeds

My children and I spent a couple of days last week working for a man from our church. Here in the south we have a plant that we call a goat weed. For those of you who are not familiar with them, here is what they look like:

I had never even heard of these nasty little weeds until last year. We were asked to come and help pull them up so they did not overtake the pasture.

In the field in which we worked, there were hundreds of these weeds. Some are just inches tall, and some can even grow to be two to three feet tall. We picked a few last year that were as tall as our little girl at four years old, and covered an area big enough in which you could hide an ATV.

 My children were offered the summer job again this year. They knew how difficult it would be, but they were excited to make some extra money and I was glad to see them wanting to get out and work.

As we worked, we discussed the verses in the Bible that teach about working with your own hands, (1 Thessalonians 4:11) and the verse that says if you do not work you should not eat. (2 Thessalonians 3:10), but as I thought about these little weeds, and how they start out so small and seemingly harmless and then grow into a weed so big you almost can not pull it out of  the ground, I thought about sin.

I used the goat weed as a teaching tool for my children this morning. As I sat down to write about our experience working in the field, God placed this on my heart:

 “These weeds that we are picking from this field are a perfect example of sin in our lives; our hearts are like these fields.”

As Christians, our hearts are like these open fields: clean, healthy, and ready for God to use and work in.

If we are not careful to follow God’s word and we allow sin to come in and dwell in our hearts, we will begin to see things grow in our lives that are dangerous and unhealthy to us. Sure, they may seem harmless at the time, just as these little weeds do to the field, but if not removed(forgiven), they will grow and they will multiply.

So many times, what has started out as a seemingly harmless little sin in our lives has grown and oftentimes develops into more sin, until one day we realize that what was once a beautiful, clean heart, is now overrun by weeds (sin).

We need to allow God to come in and clean up our fields (our hearts), to remove all the weeds (the sin), and to create a healthy place for His love to grow.

Just as a farmer can not allow even one of these weeds to grow in his field, we as Christians can not allow any sin to take root in our lives. If we do, we will soon begin to see them spring up everywhere and they will begin to grow and take over.

Let us be aware of what is growing in our hearts. The choice is ours to make.

Will you have a heart of weeds, or will you allow God to come in and clean you up, pull up all the weeds, and then plant his flowers of love in your heart?

I pray today that this will encourage your heart.

I believe that God gives us great examples every day of His love and also of the dangers of sin. I pray that we will have open ears and open hearts to receive what He has for us.

God  bless you today!

Advertisement