***8/31 NOTE: I’ve been dealing with tendonitis in my foot since about April, and yesterday was the first day I was able to get out in the yard and do any yard work. Needless  to say, I didn’t get a vegetable garden in this year, but I did mow the lawn! What a blessing it was to feel productive! Anyway, as I was mowing, this devotional I wrote a few years ago came to mind. So, I’m reposting it again!***

CHICKWEED

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. ~Romans 6:23

Our property is comprised of three lots, and one of those lots is our yard. Over the last two years or so, I’ve begun to notice some creeping chickweed weaving its way amongst the grass. It appears to be very pretty with dainty purple blossoms and vibrant green foliage.  This year, I began my garden prep three weeks later than last and the chickweed is rampant throughout the yard. Getting my vegetable garden put in began with pulling the chickweed out of it and freeing my strawberries from its grasp. After mowing the lawn, I noticed that where the weed has accumulated near the fence, along the foundation of the house and around my fruit trees,  there was no evidence that it had been cut by the mower. The weed just bent over and gave the appearance of being cut. After seeing that, I was determined to start battling that invasive weed and started pulling it. It comes up fairly easy as it is more of a vine in its design and in its place was left bare earth.

After my husband asked why I pulled it since he rather fancied the dainty purple flowers, I began to hear the Holy Spirit describe the similarity between sin and chickweed. Sin, in its base form, is deadly. It permeates our very being and chokes any life within us, leaving us destitute, depressed, and desperate. On the surface, sin seems so fun! Sin masquerades itself as “right”, happy, joyful, colorful; it evokes feelings of self-satisfaction and self-importance, among others. The world today is full of sin and debauchery that it portrays as normal and right, but all it’s doing is bringing death to people. People are living with false ideas and little knowledge of the danger of sin. Chickweed has spread rampantly through the garden of this world.

Church, wake up! It’s time to stand on the rock of the Word, powered by the Holy Spirit and fulfilling the purposes of God to introduce pieces of heaven to the blinded people! Jesus Christ died once and for all so that all could be saved, and yet there are so many who don’t realize that their lifestyle choice is sin; their idolatry is sin; their greed, their  selfishness, their attitude is sin!  Why? Because the Church has sat back for too long, complacent and apathetic, waiting for someone else to go and do something. We cannot be afraid to rock the boat, we cannot be afraid to tell people that they need a Savior. Life is too short and if we are not careful, we too can have a heart full of chickweed, choking out the fruit trees that God has planted there.

Let’s Pray: Dear Heavenly Father, thank You for the blessing of a fresh and bright new day! The mercy and grace that You show us is so tender and we lift our hands and our voices in praise to You! This is the day that You have made, we will rejoice and be glad in it! Father, clear the chickweed from Your Church, replant and fertilize the fruit trees You had planted there so that they may grow and leave no room for the weeds to come back. Father, empower us to fulfill Your purposes here in this world; strengthen our resolve to stand on Your Word; grant us courage and boldness to not sit back and wait for someone else to do what needs to be done. Father, You are worthy of worship and praise, may our lives be living sacrifices of worship and acceptable in Your sight. In Jesus’ name, we pray.  Amen.

Today’s Attitude of Worship: Examine yourself and your surroundings today, take a spiritual assessment. Is there anything similar to chickweed that is creeping into your life? What is choking your spiritual growth? If you find something, remove it. Sure, there may be a bare place, but you must fill that empty space with the Holy Spirit. In order to have a healthy lawn, experts say, you must first remove the weeds and then fertilize the grass so that it grows and chokes out the weeds. The more we, as the Church, strengthen ourselves in the things of the Lord, the more we will begin to choke out the sin in the world.

Additional Scriptures: Genesis 3