I HATE PULLING WEEDS
by: Sandy Domelle
I don’t know about you, but I love looking at pretty flower beds. There is nothing like looking at a house that has a beautiful flower bed in front of it. If you grow flowers and do your own gardening, you have probably started to see some weeds that already need to be pulled. One of the things I enjoy least about pretty flowers and gardening is getting out and spending time pulling weeds, but if I want a pretty flower bed or a great garden, it’s a needed process.
The Bible talks about weeds in Matthew 13. It says there was a man who went to sow seeds. This man was sowing a wheat field. He had the best seed that you could use. Yet, though he had good seed, he still had to deal with weeds. Verse 25 says, “But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way.” The Bible calls weeds, “tares.” As the weeds began to grow, apparently the servants didn’t weed the field. Because they didn’t take care of the weeds, they ended up having to wait till harvest to separate the wheat from the tares. If they had pulled the weeds when they first started growing, then they would not have had the problem of the tares taking over the field.
I’ve learned with my own gardening that it’s easiest if I start to pull weeds when I first begin to see them; otherwise, it starts to get out of hand and eventually overruns the whole flower bed. It doesn’t matter how pretty the flowers are, if I don’t pull the weeds they will ruin the beauty of the flowers.
Our life is like a flower bed. There are a lot of pretty flowers that God places in our life, but the weeds we allow to grow in our life destroy the good. In my own life, I have to be sure to take care of the weeds. The weeds in our life is sin. Sin will ruin the flower bed of our life if we don’t take care of them. Let me give you some thoughts about weeds and how to take care of them.
1. There are no flower beds without weeds.
Let’s be honest with ourselves and acknowledge that we all have sin that we need to take care of. God says in Romans 3:10, “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:” Notice, if none are righteous, then all have sinned. God says in 1 John 1:8, “If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” You can ignore the weeds of sin in your life, but you are only hurting yourself. Let the Word of God show you the weeds in your life. Ask God to show you the weeds so that you can get rid of them.
2. There are no pretty weeds.
Have you ever seen what you thought was a flower only to find out that it was a weed? Sometimes those pretty little weeds seem harmless, but they are still a weed, and they will still hurt the rest of the flowers. If we are not careful, we will think that our sin is not that ugly. Ladies, all sin is ugly! You have got to stop looking at the weeds of others and look at how ugly your weeds are. Don’t ever get to the point where you don’t think your sins are that bad. All sin is bad, and all sin is ugly.
3. Weeds grow faster than plants.
It always amazes me how you can plant flowers and expect them to blossom quickly, yet before you know it the weeds have already started growing and blooming. You must be careful not to allow sin to give you pleasure. Hebrews 11:25 tells us that sin will give pleasure when it says, “Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season;” Yes, just like a weed, sin grows fast. It may even seem harmless for awhile, but Proverbs 16:25 reminds us about the end of sin when it says, “There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” You must be patient with the flowers of your life, and keep the weeds of sin out. You can get discouraged if you allow how rapidly sin grows to overshadow the true flowers that are taking root in your life. Don’t let the weeds of sin grow in your life. They may be enjoyable for a season, but they are heartache in the end.
4. Weeds will take over the good.
Just like the tares in the parable began to take over the wheat field, sin will begin to take over your life and control you. Proverbs 5:22 says, “His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins.” If you don’t care of the weeds of sin in your life, before long you will find your life is filled with sin. Sin always starts small, but like a weed it will grow quickly to the point that you are under its control. You must get rid of the weeds of sin if you want the flowers of your life to bloom.
5. Weeds must be take care of early.
The best time to take care of weeds is when they are small. We hear preachers often say to keep a short account with God, and they are right. They are trying to get us to get rid of the sin at the beginning. I have found that if I pull the weeds when they are small and barely coming up that I will have an easier time keeping the weeds out of the flower bed. Likewise, if you will get rid of sin in the early stages, then you will never have to be concerned about them taking over the flower bed of your life.
6. You kill the weeds by killing the roots.
It’s so easy when you are pulling weeds to only pull off the green part of the weed. The problem with that is you are not killing the roots. You may be putting a temporary fix to the weed, but the weed is still there. We often try to cover our sin but don’t take care of its root. When we are caught in sin, we tell people, “I’m sorry,” but “I’m sorry” doesn’t get rid of the root. 1 John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” If you are going to remove the weed of sin, then you must get rid of its roots by confessing them to God and forsaking the sin. Don’t just say, “I’m sorry,” but get rid of it.
God wants your life to be like a pretty flower bed that shows the beauty of Christ to this world. If we let weeds grow in our life, the world will not see the beauty. As unpleasant as it is to pull weeds, don’t let the unpleasantness keep you from getting rid of your sin. If you take care of your sin early, then it will be a whole lot easier to take care of the new weeds and keep the flowers of God’s blessings blooming in your life.