NOXIOUS WEED GARDEN
My godly wife likes to help God with His bird-feeding
chores! She feeds the hummingbirds,
which are anything but nice – vicious, selfish, tiny kamikazes! And, she likes to fill her other feeders with
“bird seed” which does not grow into new birds, but rather introduces all
manner of weeds to the area under and adjacent the feeders! I have no earthly idea what some of those
plants are. Well, I do know that they
are “undesirables”! I have asked her to
feed only sunflower seeds and maybe corn or something like that. But, I do not want weeds volunteering from
the “birdseed”.
We are bird-brains.
Darkness spreads lid a poisonous vine from little seeds that we plant in
our minds. The innocent and verdant
“garden of Eden” is exchanged for a thought world of briars and weeds. Instead of roses and daisies, we cultivate
thorny, ugly, viscous-oozing, poisonous vines and bushes. And, these substitutes are invasive and hardy
and prolific. With little effort, they
take over and the beautiful paradise that was heaven sent degenerates into a
dark, brooding, dangerous jungle.
There are many different “seeds” that we let take root, if
not calculatingly cultivate within the fields of our mind – lies,
rationalizations, half-truths, self-deceptions, self-flattery, distortions,
inaccuracies, … on and on goes the
list. The Kingdom does indeed grow from
a mustard seed. But, the dominion of
darkness sprouts from tares that the enemy sows in the field of one’s
mind. To be sure, Jesus mentioned letting
the tares grow with the wheat, but undoubtedly He had in mind misguided
individuals, not mistaken ideas.
Scripture admonishes us to “guard our hearts” and to “think on things
above” and to “think soberly, righteously, godly…” . God has warned that “a man is as he thinks in
his heart” – good or bad! Out of the heart
comes the issues of life. The Scriptures
themselves can be “twisted to one’s own destruction”!
Discernment is needed to distinguish good seed and bad
seed. Sometimes just verbalizing one’s
thinking would create a “yeah, right?!
You idiot!” Try it! Good or bad – “everybody else is doing
it”?! Let’s try another – “I’m worth
it!”?! (advertising has refined some of these seed-ideas to a fine art) A more subtle one? “they owe me!
This is my way of balancing the tab!”
A cluster of “bad-seeds” with a similar theme might include
– “what’s one more mess up?” or, “in for a penny – in for a pound" ("in for a dime – in for a dollar” US version) or, “56 mph – 76 mph! what’s the difference?” (a couple hundred
dollars!) All these are the spawn of
Hell designed to turn a mistake into a lifestyle. Rather, one needs to recognize the mistake,
turn around, and run in the other direction as fast as possible! Be like Joseph, and run out of the room!
Perhaps it would help to imagine the whole garden being full
of the novel, new nut-grass. The potted
plant will find its way out of the pot and take over! Imagine what the different seeds grow
into. Lust can turn into a destroyed
marriage. At the very least, it will
dominate a mind that becomes more carnal and spiritually dull. Porn is NOT an aphrodisiac; it is an acrid,
insidious, invasive, parasitic weed. The
beauty of the rose will be forgotten.
Greed will force out of one’s heart any thought of God. Jesus warns that both cannot be cultivated. Hatred and anger will grow into murder. A grudge will grow into retaliation and
vengeance.
What are the ways to defeat weeds? Sometimes
a dose of herbicide is needed.
Agent Orange may be called for sometimes?! One can pull up weeds. A good hoe is worth the investment. Vigilance and early intervention are very
helpful. A good ground cover is
difficult for weeds to penetrate and establish themselves. Maybe a weed-barrier fabric is called for?!
There is a list of fruit seeds that will grow the garden of
God – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness,
self-control! Imagine what this garden
would look like when cultivated and nourished?!
Eden would be reborn!
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