Knowing Weeds

Being a gardening enthusiast, I am in the yard a lot, which means I clip hedges, mow, edge and weed a lot. My kids laugh at me because when they come home to visit, I always ask them if they want to come outside and help me weed!

"Hey, it's good exercise", I tell them.

In dealing with weeds, I see a lot of parallels to our faith life and how the enemy attempts to keep us from oneness with God.

The enemy deceives: When you deal with weeds a lot you begin to literally feel the difference between grass and weeds as your fingers reach into the grass. You know the feel of grass so well, you can nearly instantly feel the different texture of the weed. As we know the ways of God more and more (the grass), we better recognize false lies and half-truths more easily (weeds). If we keep our distance from God, it’s hard to tell the difference

The enemy steals: I've noticed, many weeds tend to thrive around the healthy plants where our irrigation system feeds them lots of water. The enemy wants to be close enough to our heart so he can divert the source of our real life - living water. He wants to steal God's life-giving water from us as much as possible.

The enemy misleads: Some weeds have very imposing tall stalks but actually have shallow roots that pull out of the ground easily. Similarly, the enemy's tactics sometimes appear big and bold, but they often have very shallow roots and can be easily defeated by faith and calling out to God.

The enemy tries to ensnare: Some weeds have broad and deep root systems that get tangled up with the roots of the grass and other healthy plants. It takes a lot of effort and time to pull those weeds out so they don’t tear up your good lawn. Satan likes to intertwine his ideas into and around our ideas and beliefs, so that we entertain his half-truths next the real truth.

I pray that we seek the Lord as the weeds of this life attempt to strangle us, surround us, steal our joy and deceive our hearts.