Day 1:
I am a planting of the Lord for the display of His splendor (Isaiah 61:3).
Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you (James 1:21).
Preoccupied with one thing or another over the summer, I found limited time to tend to my garden, and before I knew it, weeds had slowly taken over my herb pots. Tiny sprigs of lavender struggled to raise their heads above huge clumps of aggressive arrivals. The dill had surrendered completely to armies of invasive grasses, and even my usually rambunctious mint seemed shrunken and defeated.
Mentally, I acknowledged the need to deal with the weeds, but it seemed like everything kept getting in the way. Meanwhile, as the skies shut up and drought set in, I tried to water as often as my township restrictions allowed.
Training the hose on a pot of lemongrass one day, I came to terms with the fact that the shriveled stalks were completely dead, and I was essentially watering weeds.
I thought of the spiritual parallels in my life. How often I ignore the legions of invading spores and sprouts. How cluelessly I "water" harmful habits and destructive inclinations. How quickly I allow distraction, inattention and neglect to create a tangle of spiritual weeds that stunt my growth and choke my relationship with God and with others.
Scripture gives us specific instructions for handling encroaching "weeds:" Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it (Proverbs 4:23). If we don't tend our hearts, we can end up with flourishing thickets of pride, discontentment, ingratitude, impatience, and selfishness; among other invading "species."
Cain is a sobering example (Genesis 4). The God who sees into hearts recognized in both Cain's offering and in his jealous response to his brother's, that dangerous inclinations were lurking in Cain's heart:
Then the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.” (Genesis 4:6-7)
Instead of heeding God's warning, Cain watered the seeds of anger and the roots of bitterness, until he was lost in a jungle of hate, envy, and murder (Genesis 4:8). So far gone was he, that he showed no remorse after killing his brother Abel, but continued in his defiance to God (Genesis 4:9).
Most of us would probably protest that we have never murdered. Perhaps that is the reason that Jesus, from the very opening of His earthly ministry, goes past outward "symptoms" to the hidden issues of the heart: “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister [without cause]* will be subject to judgment..." Matthew 5:21-22.
We could get caught up in arguments over the level of "acceptable" anger, but we would miss the point if we do. "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked," the Scripture says (Jeremiah 17:9). That is why we are told, '“In your anger do not sin”. Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold' (Ephesians 4:26).
But anger is not the only issue. Each time I indulge my selfishness, my greed, my impatience, my apathy, and all my other "weeds", I leave my heart untended, and nurture the same dangerous inclinations that desired to have Cain. And each time I choose the path of humility over pride, peace over contention, forgiveness over vindictiveness, love over indifference, faith over unbelief, I guard my heart and rule over lurking evil.
Thanks be to God that Jesus, "the mediator of a new covenant," offers the remedy for deceitful hearts. His "sprinkled blood...speaks a better word than the blood of Abel," (Hebrews 12:24). He is able to purify our hearts and to "prune" us so that we can become "even more fruitful" as we remain in Him (John 15:2-5). He cleanses us "with the washing of water by the word, (Ephesians 5:26), so that we become a witness to God's beauty and bounty, "a planting of the Lord for the display of His splendor" (Isaiah 61:3).
If I grow, let me grow in You
Wilt the seeds of wanting more
Ripping pride out by the roots...
~To live is Christ~ Sidewalk Prophets
* Some manuscripts include the phrase without cause.
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