Brothers and Sisters,
Man, I’ll be the first one to tell you that identifying what the obstacles are in my life is way more difficult than it would seem. Often times, it’s easier to see the fruit of the problem and not the root. I tend to see what the issue produces instead of the what the core issue actually is. This is something I have been immensely struggling with during the course of these last few weeks.
One would think it’s easy to identify an obstacle that is hindering him from becoming the person he wants to become, right? I mean all he has to do is sit down, analyze his life, and point out which areas are in need of some serious work and which areas could just use fine tuning. It seems like a pretty simple concept, right? It’s like looking at a garden and seeing where the weeds are. One knows that all you have to do is pull the weeds out and allow for his plants to go.
However, I’m at the point where I’ve let the weeds grow for so long, I don’t really know where to begin plucking. I’ve started to let the weeds grow and grow, and now that I’m pretty far along, I have to do something. As a man, I tend to want to do things my own way most of the time, very rarely stopping and plucking the weeds out of my life. I am a hard-headed, thick skinned, slow-to-change guy when I strongly believe that what I am doing is the right way of doing it. I’ve pushed “Life Gardening 101” aside and haven’t really identified which plants were weeds and which were the ones I want to keep. I’ve let the weeds grow so large that they have began to bear fruit. I know I struggle with pride, envy, jealousy, idolatry, lust, and “bad fruit” such as that. But is my problem just in those fruits? Or is it of something greater?
Identifying bad fruit such as pride, envy, jealousy, idolatry, lust, and things of the like take more than just KNOWING that the fruit exists; it involves knowing WHERE the fruits are born. Every plant, whether a good fruit-bearing plant or weed, has an equal opportunity to grow. Circumstances in our lives rain down on us, allowing us the chance to blossom into a man of wisdom or folly. However, the weeds in our lives feed off of these chances. Maybe we were strong in prayer, but failed to pray once at one meal during the week. That could eventually fall into two times a week, then three, then before you know it, you find yourself praying once or twice a week. That weed on the “Prayer” plant has completely overcame the good plant that “Prayer” once was. Each and every plant that bears good fruit in spiritual growth has one stem, one core, from where each bad fruit grows from. Bottom line, ladies and gents, is that no matter how many good fruit plants we have in our lives, because of our sin, there’s an equal amount of weeds that bear bad fruit. That is the main issue here. That is at the core of all obstacles. Identifying THAT idea is step one in identifying overcoming ALL weeds that bear bad fruit. We must understand that there is for a most part a duality with each part of our lives. For example, there is a “Servant” plant with a “Selfish” weed attached. There is a “Humble” plant with a “Prideful” weed attached.
So why raise this point?
I have had a very difficult time at accepting that I am a sinner at my very core. I have thought that if I start to identify the weed but try and let my good fruit plaint outgrow it, maybe I could consider myself a godly man, therefore be more qualified for this trip. However, I don’t see outgrowing the weed which bears bad fruit with the good fruit plant to be the necessary fix to the issue. Trying to outgrow the weed is about as effective as weeding a garden by merely pulling the leaves off the weeds. You may not see the weed once the leaves are gone, but it’s there. It’s roots are still dug deeply into the ground, vivaciously stripping away the nutrients of the plants you wish to see grow. Why in the world would you let the weed continue to grow, even if you are doing the right thing most of the time? Instead of trying to outgrow the bad fruit, I think it would be more suitable to break out the Roundup.
The key ingredient in Roundup? Christ.
It’s time to start praying. It’s time to start reading the Bible daily. It’s time to stop interacting with those who bring me down both mentally and spiritually. You see, instead of ignoring these weeds by not doing the wrong thing, it’s time to attack them by doingthe right thing. It’s time to kill the weed. Too often have I thought that identification and refraining from wrong doing is the best way to overcome a spiritual obstacle. It’s not. It’s more so about doing the right thing than it is not doing the wrong thing. Because let’s face it, we will never be able to stop sinning. We will never be able to live a sinless life. Should we continue to try and refrain from partaking in some of the things that bear “bad fruit”? Of course. But actively doing the right thing, in my mind, may have a greater impact on how we live our lives because of the “good fruit” it can provide.
It’s been a process to identify all the weeds in my life. I just hope that God continues to give me strength to attack the issues with His grace instead of merely trying to do more right than wrong.
Your brother,
N.J. Shear
