‘Heart Weeds’

Daily Devotional–Wednesday, June 9, 2021

“The seeds that fell among the thorns represent those who hear the message, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the cares and riches and pleasures of this life. And so they never grow into maturity.” (Luke 8:14, NLT)

I remember the long hard hours of pulling weeds from our huge vegetable garden on the farm…at least, as a kid, it seemed huge! Planting the seeds, raking and hoeing the dirt was one thing, but the pulling of the weeds was a tedious, never ending job. We all knew, however, that if the garden didn’t have the weeds removed, it would soon turn wild, with the weeds taking over. And if that happened, you could say good-bye to all the yummy vegetables, pickles and other preserves that would result from all our hard labour of regularly tending to the weeds.

This analogy of how weeds take over a vegetable garden is no less true for the human heart. God wants to grow His fruit in us, but it requires constant attention being given to the pulling of the ‘weeds.’ Weeds of the heart are any attitudes or motivations that work against the growth of God’s love and other fruit in our lives. The Holy Spirit will cause us to grow his love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control; however, these cannot grow when we allow our lives to be overrun with the weeds of selfishness, unforgiveness, greed, anxiety, impatience and pride (to list but a few of the possible ‘weeds’).
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Unfortunately, there are many ‘immature’ people who know of Christ, speak of His Lordship, but who demonstrate by the weeds in their lives, that their words are not an accurate reflection of their actual beliefs and desires. We would all do well to allow the Master Gardener to point out the weeds that threaten the growth of His goodness in our lives and actively participate in the process of internal weeding, each and everyday.
~ Pastor Jane
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