If you have spent a lot of time in the church then you have probably heard countless talks and sermons about being rooted in your faith. It is sprinkled throughout the bible but one of the most famous ones is in Matthew 13, the parable of the sower:
“A sower went out to sow. And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, but when the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, they withered away. Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.”
While being rooted in the good soil (God) is important, we don’t often talk about the weeds that can sometimes end up in the good soil. This past month my team and I have done a good bit of weeding in the beautiful garden at the church we are living in. While pulling weeds for the hundredth day in a row and feeling pretty miserable because it is about 95 degrees (plus humidity and it is only going to get hotter), God revealed to me a parable involving weeds. Weeds are like the sin in our lives. The more you pull them, the faster they seem to grow back. Only if you get the root will the weed truly die. It is hard work and sometimes it involves some digging and getting dirty. It is the same in our lives. All of us have sin in our lives that we have been working on for a long time. While we are aware that it is bad we still end up committing the same sin over and over! Instead of trying to punish yourself or just quit the sin cold turkey, try looking a little deeper at the sin.
Why do I enjoy doing that sin? Is it pride? Is it because it makes me feel beautiful? Is it because I feel like I have worth? Does it make me feel powerful?
The way sin manifests in our lives is usually something surface level, just like the leaves of a weed. Everyone can see it, but no one can dig out the root except you. You have to want it. God will certainly point it out to you and help you get rid of it, but you have to want it. It will be hard, it will be painful, it will be dirty, and you might lose a fingernail or two in the digging, but it is worth it. Will you ever be perfect? No. But that is where God’s grace comes in.
“For God did not send his Son into the world m to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.”
As soon as Adam and Eve took that first bite of the apple, God knew they would never be perfect again. And yet He chose to give us a way to save ourselves. It just involves a decision: am I willing to believe? God does not force himself upon us, but allows us to choose him.
