Sin in my Backyard

In West Texas, there is a culprit that returns to our beloved backyards every summer: grass burrs. The problem is that in their early stages, the look like normal grass. So naturally, you fertilize them, water them, mow them along with all your other grass. Before long, you have a lush (read: semi-habitable) lawn that tricks you into stepping onto it with your bare feet. That is until the sharp pain in your sole alerts your whole body to the fact that there are indeed menaces growing right along with the grass.

My son and I were busy pulling these by the roots when it dawned on me that the habitual sin in my own life is just like the grass burrs. I feed & water them along with all the other habits in my life, until it produces pain not only for myself, but those who care enough to tread into my life. And the only effective treatment for these types of problems is to pull it from the root.

Pulling the root of a habitual sin is a rather painful process. It required me to acknowledge in front of those I love that I had a problem with the sin in the first place. Yet in the end, it is so worth it. We often allow that habitual sin to fester and grow until the whole back yard is full of weeds and we suddenly don't want to invite anyone over, at least not in that are of our life. And every time we try to "fix" that one nagging sin, we get overwhelmed and shut the fence door, hoping that some how it will just go away. When what we really need is a friend to step and pull the weeds with us. Not some chemical spray that we hope will get rid of it. But actually down on our hands and knees pulling & pricking our finger tips until the lawn is grass burr free. Until our lives are habitual sin free.

I sincerely hope reader that you find yourself in the same place that I found today while pulling the weeds...downright angry with the sin in your life and ready to do something about it.

2 comments:

  1. Good thoughts - as long as it is also understood that we can't do the uprooting ourselves! Trying by our own efforts to do better leads to failure and despair. Only by the blood of Christ can our sins be forgiven, and only by the power of the Spirit can we walk sin-free.

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  2. Thanks for the feedback JennyBeth. Maybe its a combination of your own effort and God's grace. The leprous woman had to actually reach out and touch Christ' hem. The lame man's friend had to climb to the roof and lower him through. It is a matter of the heart. If you "pull weeds" out of the arrogance that you are a great gardener, that is one thing. If you "pull weeds" out of desperation until the master gardener steps in is an entirely other thing.

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