Daily Devotional

The other day I drove up to my house and—glancing out my car window—flinched to see all the weeds growing in my yard.  Clearly I had neglected them for too long, and now I would have to pay the price.  Squatting down on one knee with a weed puller in one hand and a bucket in the other, sweat dripping down my forehead, I began thinking about some of the ways weeds are like sin in our lives:

1. The longer you ignore them, the bigger they get, and the harder they are to remove.
    
2. If you don’t pull a weed out by the root, it will grow right back.  You can’t just hack off the top, you have to dig beneath the surface.
   
   
3. It doesn’t take any effort to let weeds grow.  But it takes time, energy, and regular maintenance to get rid of them.
   
   
4. Weeds are great competitors.  They can choke the life out of healthy plants and take their place.
   
   
5. Weeds are great imposters.  They look like other plants. Sometimes they’re green and leafy, and they can even have flowers.  So it takes discernment and a well-trained eye to recognize a weed for what it is.
   
   
6. Whenever I take weeds out of my garden, I like to water the ground to soften up the soil.  It makes it easier to pull them out.  (Similarly, I need the water of God’s word to root the sin out of my life.)

As you pray for grace and strength to face the day ahead of you, take a few minutes to meditate on the significance of these similarities between sin and weeds.  Examine the condition of your soil.  Spend some time pulling weeds if you need to (even the little ones.)  And let me know if you come up with any other “similarities” I should add to my list.

"English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers."