We are rapidly approaching the time of year where vegetable and flower gardens will be planted. With diligence and care, the ground is tilled and prepared to receive the seeds, starter plants, or bulbs. It won’t be long before little green shoots break through the ground and satisfaction fills your heart as your work blooms before your eyes.
Wait a minute! What’s that? Something has infiltrated your perfectly manicured garden. Weeds. Who planted those?!? These unwanted, undesirable invaders voluntarily appear, crowding out the growth of the good plants.
Weeds are difficult to eradicate. I was always taught to make sure that you didn’t just snap off the heads. Be sure to pull the weed out by the roots so that they won’t grow back. Did anyone tell the weeds they weren’t allowed to come back if they were plucked out by the root? Evidently not because they returned and usually brought friends.
Roundup. You know…that stuff that can kill YOU permanently with cancer but will only kill the weeds for a few weeks before they return. Oh, it works. The patch where you sprayed will be as brown as it can be. Within a month, though, the area has greened back up again, snickering at your futile attempts to kill it. If the Roundup manages to work for the entire season in the area you sprayed, you will still face a whole new batch of weeds next season.
If only the good things in our lives were as hardy as weeds!
Weeds are mentioned in the Bible and never in a good light. They are used literally to describe the struggles a farmer will have as they plant crops. This is seen from the moment of the curse in Genesis 3:17-18. “And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast
hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; (18) Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field…”
Weeds are also used figuratively to describe sin, adverse character traits, or things allowed in our lives that choke out the good. One such example is in Proverbs 24:30-34. “I went by the field of the slothful, and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding; (31) And, lo, it was all grown over with thorns, and nettles had covered the face thereof, and the stone wall thereof was broken down. (32) Then I saw, and considered it well: I looked upon it, and received instruction. (33) Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: (34) So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth; and thy want as an armed man.”
As Christians, we want good things to grow in our lives. We want the characteristics of the fruit of the Spirit to be able to flourish without hindrance. (Galatians 5:22-23). And we want to fulfill what Jesus promised in John 15:5. “I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.” To accomplish this, we must constantly fight the weeds that can so easily grow up in our lives.
This is a daily fight. Have you ever noticed in your garden the day after you hoed and 
pulled weeds? Weeds are already popping up. The same is true in our lives. Just because today was a successful day of weed pulling, there will still be plenty more work to do tomorrow.
Today, may we take to heart the Lord’s instructions in Hebrews 12:14-15 and start looking for weeds buried deep in our lives. “Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord: (15) Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled…”
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