Weeds and the Master Gardener

I'm a novice gardener – I really love digging in the dirt, sticking some seeds in the ground and then watching God do His thing to bring forth life. It's an amazing process to me how God can make so much come from such a tiny little seed. Now – I'm definitely an amateur gardener and really have no idea what I'm doing, but one thing I do know: weeds are bad! So every few days I find myself hunched over, pulling those wretched intruders up and away from my precious budding fruits and veggies.

As dirt piles up under my fingernails and my hand fork busily loosens up those stubborn weeds, I can't help but liken them to the sin in my life. Like weeds, sin incessantly threatens to take over my heart each and every day. Like weeds, sin can grow in all shapes and sizes, sometimes even mimicking something beautiful, but turning out to be toxic in the end. Like weeds, sin may start out as a small thing, not seeming to be much of a threat, but left untended, can develop into an ugly monstrosity that will wreak major havoc to the life around it.

If you know anything about weeds, you know you can't just mow over them (they'll come right back up with a vengeance) – you have to yank the suckers up by their nasty old roots. So like pulling weeds, I should ask God to help me daily attack sin at its root – even though it can be mighty frustrating and seem hopelessly futile at times, it is a part of life as long as I am planted on this earth.

As Rick Countryman says, “Like a garden that's unattended, sin will grow like weeds in your life. We don't have power over the weeds, over sin. But God does. Jesus, the Gospel, is the RoundUp for the sin in your life. It's the only thing that can deal with it.”

So, even though my natural self wants to bar the gate, I must be diligent to allow the Master Gardener into the garden of my life to do His digging and pruning, painful though it often is. The soil of circumstances in which His divine purposes have placed me are the perfect breeding ground for not only potential beauty to grow, but also for the latent sin that still lingers in my heart to be revealed.

Just as a garden cannot be untended and expected to not be overrun by weeds, there will always be work to do in the soil of my heart, till the day God calls me home. And on that great day, when my spirit is set free from this place, there will be no more weeds – no more sin to struggle against...there will only be pure beauty, thanks to all that Jesus has done! Until then, He promises to faithfully prune my heart, lovingly pulling away all that hinders my growth in Him. And even though I often struggle against His cultivation processes, I'm forever thankful that He will never give up on the garden of my life.

“He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit

he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.” - John 15: 2

“...the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.”

- Hebrews 12: 6

Caught on Tape

 

"I will be careful to lead a blameless life-- when will you come to me?

I will conduct the affairs of my house with a blameless heart.”

 - Psalm 101:2

This Christmas we bought our son a camera, little knowing how powerfully God would use its video feature to grow us in Christ! There have been several times I've looked over at my son while I'm in the midst of an “intense” parenting moment with one of his siblings, only to find him recording the whole incident. Talk about a “heart check”!

Since God is an all-seeing God, the reality is, everything we do, say and even think is “on the record” – He is overseeing it all, all the time. Knowing this shudders my heart with an initial sense of dread (because I know the depth of my sin nature), but is quickly replaced with immense, restful gratitude (because I know the far greater depth of my Lord's forgiveness and grace, and that He has canceled my “record of debt” because of Christ's work on the cross; Colossians 2: 13-15, Hebrews 8:12). And from this thankfulness of heart, I am stirred with an unquenchable longing to “walk with integrity of heart within my house” (Psalm 101:2). But how do we have the power to do that ALL the time!?

The power of the Gospel is not just for Sunday morning worship experiences, mission trips or spiritual retreats – it is for the nitty gritty of everyday life. As a believer in Christ, you are a new creation, and you have the Holy Spirit (the same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead! Romans 8:11) empowering you to live each moment according to your new nature. Although your old sin nature will remain to some extent until God calls you home, you are no longer enslaved to it (Romans 6:6). In the limitless strength of the Almighty One (not your own strength!) who calls you to good works in His name, you can walk with integrity each moment of your day.

You are not defeated by your flesh, the temptations of this world and Satan's continual badgering.

You are a victor

 

because CHRIST,

who is your life,

 

is the Victorious One.

By His grace, you can choose each moment to walk in victory. Start each day humbly before your loving Father, asking Him to fill you with His Spirit so that in each step of your day you will “walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4: 1-3).

Are You In the Battle?



“...pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace,

along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart”

- 2 Tim. 2: 22

Every part of my flesh wants the easy way. I want what is comfortable, what will cause the least pain, what will feel or taste good. But as I search Scripture, I cannot find God promoting this sort of mindset anywhere (as my flesh shouts, “dang it!”). And the Spirit within me testifies to the truth that in fact, this sort of self-gratifying lifestyle that essentially denies the power of Christ in my life will not lead me one step closer to true joy – in fact it will lead me closer to death.

Paul says that in the last days, many of us will live like the world, even though we are still in the church (“having a form of godliness, but denying its power.”), being “lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control...” (2 Tim. 3: 2-3).

If you were to honestly look at your life, does this sad list describe you? I confess it reflects my heart far too often, and I hate it. So do I throw in the towel and wallow in frustration and self-disgust (which is really just a reverse form of pride)? Or do I take the hand of my patient, sweet Lord Jesus and cry out to Him for His help to keep me from going the easy way that my flesh and Enemy shout at me to take? He is our only hope for the strength to “flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart” (2 Tim. 2: 22).

As believers, we are in a life-long battle - and I'm fairly certain that battles aren't easy! In fact, we should expect opposition, knowing that “all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Tim. 3:12). But because of God's crazy, unfathomable, boundless love toward us through Christ, let us keep struggling toward the righteous life He desires for us, in His power alone. Nothing this world has to offer will bring us such joy as this pursuit. We are powerless to do it on our own, but God will be faithful to work in us, even when we are faithless.

Seeking the Ultimate Mr. Clean

“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.”
-Matthew 5: 8

One of my least favorite chores is cleaning the bathroom. With three little ones in the house all learning how to brush their own teeth, the mirror is perpetually splattered with spots of toothpaste and smudges of hands. All my cleaning efforts seem wasted when the mirror only stays shiny for the two seconds that my children are out of the bathroom. I often question the point of even having mirrors - in many ways, they only seem to bring more pain than pleasure!

How similar my heart is to that mirror – it so easily gets smudged and splattered with my sin nature, my unknowning acceptance of Satan's lies, and my latent love of the world. With all this muck mixed into it, my heart cannot possibly reflect the beauty of Christ in me, but instead it spews out anger, selfishness and despair. God's presence seems to vanish, and I cannot see him in my life.

But how do I get the dirt out – all my self-efforts at purity are futile (much like cleaning my mirror with preschoolers waiting in the wings, toothbrushes in hand!). Who can possibly keep her own heart clean? Christ answers that in Matthew 19:26: “With men it is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

Jesus' words prompt me to cry out, as David did, “create in me a pure heart!” By faith I must trust that God's Spirit in my heart will help me maintain its purity by enabling me to live a life of growing devoted obedience to His Word. When seeking God's Kingdom is my primary goal in life, He will purify my heart till it becomes more like His, focused on and concerned with one thing: His glory (not my gain). Then, as Christ promises, I will see God – His grace manifested in my life, His glory all around me, and ultimately, when my life is over, what untold joy I will know as I see Him as He really is, face to face - in heaven (and as we know, thankfully no spots and smudges are allowed there!).

Hungry for Holiness

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,

for they shall be satisfied."

- Matthew 5:6

What a timely verse for this holiday season, right on the heels of Thanksgiving! I sadly admit that far too often I do not hunger and thirst for righteousness with the same passion that I lavish on food. Why? Simply put, my mind is so easily set on earthly things, on experiences that my physical senses can enjoy, rather than heavenly things – those which will never fade...nor leave us with heartburn and a guilty conscience afterward. When I live to please my flesh – whether it's eating too much, not restraining my frustration, gossiping - God's warnings come true in my life, and I reap destruction (damage done to my body and relationships). However when, by His grace, I choose to live to please the Spirit, hungering after Christlikeness, then I will reap true satisfaction, peace and eternal life (Gal. 6: 7-9).

The rewards of hungering after righteousness benefit us both this life and the next. Oh, to stand at the end of my days and look back with a sense of thanksgiving that, although I was nowhere near perfect, I sought hard after holiness, not my own pleasure. To be able to do that, I must expect pain along the road – living like Christ is not comfortable; in fact, it means death to many things that my futile mind treasures. I have to stop trying to fill myself with things that do not truly satisfy so that I can finally feel the deep hunger that will only be quenched by Christ and His righteousness made manifest in my life.

This holiday season, let's make it our prayer that God would give us the grace to make an insatiable hunger for righteousness the focus of our hearts and minds. We are always looking for the “perfect gift” for our loved ones. If we profess Christ as our Lord, then He is to be our most Beloved – what more of a gift could we give Him than a heart that is hungry for purity, that desires to live as He did, all for His glory, not our own sense of satisfaction.