Weeds and Sin

I spent a few hours weeding at Bellview Blueberry Farms this weekend and this is what I learned.

It occurred to me that weeds and sin have a lot in common.

1. First, if you have enough weeds (sin) around a person it’s hard to see the plant (the good) in them. Sometimes we look at really sinful people and forget that their is good inside them. We judge them and avoid them because they are sinful. We think there is no point in telling them about Jesus because someone like them would never listen but that isn’t true. There is no sinner that can’t be redeemed if they are willing. Paul is the perfect example of someone most people thought would never change. He went from persecuting Christians, to being one. There is hope for everyone, even sinners like Paul.

2. Sometimes, for us humans, it’s a matter of perspective. Some of the tiny blueberry plants I weeded were totally surrounded to the point I couldn’t find them, but if I backed off and looked at the plants from a different direction I could see the little green leaves of the blueberry bush peeking through.  Perhaps that’s what we need to do with people, too. When we talk to them about Jesus if they don’t respond, back off and try a different approach. And never, ever forget the power of prayer!

3. Some weeds (sins) are stronger than others and once they get a good root system going, they are much harder to get rid of. If we let a sin take root in our life and leave it there, it’s going to do the same thing. What starts out as a small problem can turn into addiction, adultery or other sins. I’d much rather pull the small weeds than the large ones. How about you?

4. Weeding would have been easier if we had used pre-emergent herbicides and cleared the soil of weeds BEFORE we planted. Because we didn’t we are dealing with some really healthy weeds. Whenever possible we need to plant our seeds (or bushes) on good soil!

^{Matthew 13 : 3} Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. ⁴ As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. ⁵ Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. ⁶ But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. ⁷ Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. ⁸ Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. ⁹ Whoever has ears, let them hear.”

One More Thing…

I also learned that my back isn’t as strong as it once was and bending over pulling weeds uses muscles that I haven’t used in a long, long time.

OUCH!