God's Word to the Wise

I am more and more convinced when God declared, “cursed is the ground…” in (Genesis 3:17) that he made “Weeds” so they can’t ever be eradicated. When I accidentally spray my wife’s plants and flowers with poison, they die. They are so dead as to never return. But not those everlasting weeds. Pull them out root and all, poison them, burn them, or stomp on them repeatedly, and they return, and in most cases, bigger and stronger than before. 

Good plants need to be planted either by physically placing a seed or the plant in the soil. Weeds appear without any human assistance. Weeds are similar to sin. In this fallen world sin and its effect is everywhere present. We can think we have dealt with it once and for all. We have cleaned up/ weeded our conduct, and so we take our ease. While we aren’t paying attention, the sin/weeds return with a vengeance. 

There is an 80 acre truck farm adjacent to us. The men will disk or chisel the soil to clean up the plants and weeds. What remains immediately after this is finished is rich fertile black Iowa dirt. There is not a plant or a weed to be found. I like to stand nearby to look at and smell the cleaned soil. But before they plant the next crop, weeds are covering the entire area, and if they are slow to replant, the weeds can grow up above my ankle. The parable of the return of the unclean Spirit in (Matthew 12:43-45) comes to mind. “When the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through waterless places seeking rest, but finds none. Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when it comes, it finds the house empty, swept, and put in order. Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there, and the last state of that person is worse than the first. So also will it be with this evil generation.”

tAlong with killing the weeds the good plants need to be nurtured. This also is how we are to deal with sin. Not only must we stop a sinful behavior; kill the weeds. We must practice the right behavior; nurture the good plant.This stop start pattern for dealing with sin is clearly spelled out in (Ephesians 4:25-32); Stop lying, start telling the truth, stop stealing, start working, etc.

The battle against sin is exhausting. We must continually be, mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually resisting it. I have met a few persons who tell me that except for the occasional slip, they have sin under control. One older gentleman shared that by the work of the Holy Spirit he is complete in his sanctification. He hesitated to say he was sinless, but he no longer sinned. He said that the longer one is a Christian, the less they should be tempted to sin and if that isn’t the case they are most likely not a Christian. I asked him, “So you Love the Lord your God will all your heart, soul, strength, and mind and your neighbor as yourself everyday?” His answer wasn’t a yes, but it wasn’t a no either.    

I shared with him (1 John 1:8) “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” He responded that it is referring to our state before becoming a Chrisian. The context would indicate that John is writing about an ongoing recognition of sin in a believer’s life, not just their state before becoming a Christian. It emphasizes that even after salvation, acknowledging one’s sinfulness is essential for living in truth.The truth is the older a person becomes the battle becomes more difficult. We oldsters lack the necessary mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual ability necessary to resist it.

People, sin is as real and perpetual as weeds. You will never know a nanosecond without it in this fallen world. (Matthew 26:41) “Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.”