WEEDS

I am not obsessed with my lawn being weed-free. Honestly, I never really cared too much about weeds in the grass until we ripped out and reseeded a large chunk of our front lawn. Now, however, I am convinced that weeds are pure evil, just because of the way that they grow and multiply.

When Jesus spoke about evil spirits in Luke 11:24-26, He could have easily been describing the weeds that threatened to take over our yard. “When an evil spirit comes out of a man, it goes through arid places looking for rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first.”

Once the ground on our front lawn was bare, I realized just how relentless, intrusive and prevalent the weeds were as they grew in with the grass. For example, trying to pop them out of the ground is next to useless in the long term because if you don’t get the entire root, they grow back stronger and bigger than before. Spray them with weed-killer, and chances are you’ll kill the weed along with everything else around it. Either way, a bare patch is left, which then becomes fertile ground for more weeds to move in and take over. Only something thick and hardy growing in the bare patch can keep the weeds from finding a place to establish themselves.

But of course, Jesus was speaking about spiritual weeds, not the green leafy kind. So, what kinds of weeds need to be rooted out of your life? It is not enough to just swear off the evil in our lives. Whether its drugs, alcohol, pornography, greed, or anything else that distracts and keeps us knowing more about God or spending time with Him, something needs to take its place when its gone. Otherwise, the ground within us remains fertile for the evil, or some new evil, to re-establish itself.

The only seed that is hardy and fast-growing enough to conquer our personal weeds is the Word of God (Luke 8:11). By regularly studying the Word, we prepare good soil in our hearts, where Jesus can be planted, and our relationship with Him can be nurtured so it grows and grows and grows. When we hear the Word, retain it and persevere, then we produce a crop (Luke 8:15) thick enough and hardy enough to prevent the establishment or re-emergence of evil weeds. Once that crop sprouts, there’s not a whole lot of room for other things to take root.