“Pull Those Weeds”

“And these are they which are sown among thorns; such as hear the word, And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.” Mark 4:18–19

Many of you know that I can’t get around like I once could. But I loved gardening and picking the fresh fruits of my labor. Years ago, I used to grow a fairly large garden featuring about 30 tomato plants so that I could put up my own tomato sauce. The weeds always seemed to get away from

me as with any garden that is not closely watched. When we moved into this house almost 20 years ago, I again tried my hand at gardening. After the first season I gave up because we have so many deer here that they ate every single thing that I grew. And then my health made it impossible

to do it anymore. So, because I can’t garden anymore, I thought I would try just a few plants on my deck this year where the deer could not get to them. Tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and zucchini. I had my husband bring my huge pots on the deck and I sat in a chair and planted them with

fresh soil and nutrients. I was so excited to see the results and taste the fresh-grown vegetables.

“And the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.”

Isaiah 58:11

We also hired someone to do some landscaping and plant some flowers and plants around our house, which has not been done since we moved here, and it looks beautiful. But it's amazing how quickly weeds can take root. How did they get there? Did we plant them? No, they just show up.

Isn’t It amazing how the rain and storms bring out what's underneath the soil. Whether it be flowers or fruit and yes, even weeds. The weeds get watered also. What lies just under the surface comes up with what we have planted. How did those weeds get there? Maybe discontentment,

worry, jealousy, greed, gossip, pride, and many other things that we have tried to bury. But guess what? God sees what we try to hide and when our garden is watered, the bad comes up with the good.

“The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way.”

Matthew 13:24–25

What do we do? We start pulling those weeds, one by one and you can’t just cut them off at ground level. No, you have to get to the root of the problem and pull it completely and wholly out. Otherwise, it will continue to grow underground and will eventually show its ugly weed above ground again. If you don’t get rid of the weeds, they will eventually choke out the good plants. Take a minute and ask yourself if you are watering the weeds which will choke out your good plants. By the way, where do you think the weeds came from? Did you plant them? I’m sure you would not

intentionally plant weeds. The enemy, Satan is good at slyly planting little doubts and problems and then they grow much bigger. That’s why it is so important that we pull those weeds when they are small because if you wait until later, their roots grow deeper and stronger and will be really hard

to get rid of. They also will begin to choke out the good plants.

“Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.”

Galatians 6:7–8

You know, not all weeds are ugly. I have seen some weeds that have grown and have pretty colors. Some weeds are not terrible in themselves but may take up space of what God really wants for our lives. Things like busyness, neglecting having quiet time with the Lord, and even social media (ouch) can take up too much time in our day. That’s when we need to take a walk through the garden of our heart and ask God to weed out the things that take up too much space and take our focus away from growing the things that will make our faith stronger, our walk straighter, our lives wholly lived to honor Him.

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.”

John 15:1–2