Weeds

I cut the grass at my house today.  Big deal, right?  Just hang on a second.  As I was cutting, I was thinking about something I had been mulling over for quite some time now.  Right now, my yard looks awesome, it is freshly cut which means, it is even, orderly and neat.  It is pleasing to the eye.  The only trouble is; it won't stay that way.  In a week, the weeds will stand tall and mock my feeble effort to destroy them.  Why is that?  I only cut the weeds down, I did not kill them at the root.  So they will be back, and I will once again, take the blade to them only to do the same week after week.  Here's where it gets deep.  Our lives are alot like my front yard.  All of you that read this have sin in your life that you have allowed to spread and take root.  You may sit in church one Sunday and the pastor will preach a sermon and through that sermon the Holy Spirit will shine the spotlight on your sin.  You will pray for forgiveness and then two maybe three days will go by and then you notice that temptation creeping back in, and soon enough, it will be one of those taunting weeds I talked about in my front yard.  Why?  Because all you are doing is cutting down weeds yourself, you are seeking to manage your behavior and truthfully it is an exercise in futility.  It will do nothing but wear you down and kill your spirit.  It will leave you discouraged and defeated.

Is that you?  Are you weary and heavy laden with dealing with the burden of your sin.  With trying to fix yourself.  I want to share a few Bible verses with you.  In Matthew, Jesus is speaking to a group of people, who have been living under the burden of strict religious rules that they couldn't stand up under.  He has this to say to them, "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS.  For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."

You see what happens when we try to manage our behavior, we have exchanged one set of chains (sin) for another (religion).  We must not think, that we have to clean ourselves up or get ourselves right and then come to God, His desire is that we come to Him as we are.  All we can do is cut down the weeds, but He alone can eliminate them all together.  This is not a burden for Him, it is a pleasure.  It brings Him glory when we cease to think that we can somehow produce holiness in our own effort, and instead realize that God alone is the source of righteousness. 

So today, stop cutting weeds.  Stop driving in circles.  Bring your sin, your lusts, your greed, your broken relationships, your addictions to the one who can forgive and destroy those burdens.  Come thirsty, and drink of the water of Life. 

For Christ and His Kingdom,
Rickey