WEEDS

Conformed to the World’s Patterns

I wish everyone had a pastor like Ray Still, the senior pastor of Oakwood; he is doing a series “It Looks Like This” referring to Christianity, or living the Christ life.  A small part of the sermon this week was about Ray and Sandra being out of town and his son taking care of the yard, but ignoring the flowerbeds.  Ray asked the question, what happens when a garden or flowerbed is ignored? 

Ray’s text was from Romans 12:1-2, and part of the Scripture tells us; “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”  Ray went on to explain that when we get squeezed, often what comes out is not Christ but the way the world has molded us. 

But my mind was stuck on weeds, and from a child I’ve had a hatred for weeds, because I was the baby of the family and could not push the push mower, that’s right, no engine and I know that is hard for many of you to comprehend.  So from the age of about five years, my job was to clean the flowerbeds, and that meant only one thing, pulling the many weeds that would pop up.

So when Ray is talking about weeds coming up in our garden, weeds we did not plant and that is what happens when we get too busy to cultivate the garden.  But what he did not say, but did imply, was about the weeds we often plant because we buy into a better way to garden, it goes back to that Imitation Ray addressed, the world is full of better ways to get our needs met, most we should avoid at all cost, if our desire is to live the victorious Christian life. 

I’m a gardener, and for a guy who has an obsession with weeds, maybe I should have some other hobby, I will blame it on granddad Golden who was a farmer and helped me with my first garden at the age of seven.  He helped me harvest my first crop of beets and we bundled them and sold then to Barnett’s grocery at the end of Liberty drive where we lived. 

I’ve always been open to trying new things, especially in gardening, and a good friend, who would never wish me harm, came up with a way to add nitrogen to my garden.  He had read that clover has a very long root and will open up your soil and produce these pods on the roots that put nitrogen back into the soil.  What he did not share and I’m sure did not read is that those roots do not decay, in fact, they did not have any pods on them, but the roots were amazing, each root has a goal to reach the center of the earth, and there are many roots.  Now weeds have roots, but weeds are a piece of cake compared to these roots and they must be removed, or I take up a new hobby.

These roots remind me of many of the sins that the world’s system has renamed, and I have bought into.  Like office supplies from work that are not used for work, or as a salesperson’s samples that never get to the customer, but I used them for my own needs, and guess what, God still calls that stealing.  As a salesperson, my boss Kim would often tell me, Bob you are good at embellishing, God calls that lying.  Those are just a couple of example of how the world will try to mold you.  I bet you can add to the list, by just asking this question, what does God call it, and you know what it is.   Do you recall we had a President who ask the question what is “is,” and the answer; God is.

My friend Mike likes to use cowboy logic, well this is gardener logic: weeds have no regard for your crops; in fact, they will steel and kill and destroy it.  In John 10:10 Jesus told us; “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.  I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”

So if you have not been taking care of your garden and the weeds are choking the life out of your family, your marriage, or have just taken the joy out of living; run to Jesus and ask for mercy.  Ray shared this definition about Mercy: “God giving us what we do not deserve.”  And after you agree with God, we sometime call that a confession, and you receive mercy.  Ray gave us this advice on how to weed your life: “The Spirit of God takes the word of God to the child of God, to make us like the Son of God.”

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice