Spiritual Weedkillers

I just got back from making an exciting purchase. It probably won't seem that interesting when I mention what I bought, but it is to me. I bought something that is supposed to kill the weeds in the yard but promote growth for the grass. I know this is not a big deal as far as life is concerned, but it is interesting that there is something that will kill weeds and fertilize grass, growing right next to each other. This is even more amazing when considering that some weeds are even called grass, such as "crabgrass." How this stuff knows what to kill and what to help grow is a mystery to me, though I am sure anyone who has studied agronomy is rolling their eyes right now.

The real reason this is interesting to me has nothing to do with my yard but everything to do with my spiritual life. Jesus spoke of the debilitating effect of weeds regarding the harvest. He did so to warn us about "weeds" in our spiritual lives. We are told that when a good seed is sown, the enemy will come along and sow tares among the wheat. From the parable of the sower, God's Word tells us that "the worries of this world," and "the deceitfulness of riches," are some of the weeds that we must contend with. We have a similar problem in our spiritual lives that the grass does in our yards……there are various types of weeds around us, trying to choke out the good seed of The Gospel in our lives.

One major "weed," according to Jesus, is what He called the deceitfulness of riches. We are well aware that the pursuit of wealth, and the things that riches promise to provide for us, is something that many give their life to. We buy into the perception that fortune will satisfy us or that the things we can acquire with great wealth will make us fulfilled and happy. If we can just have a bigger house, a nicer car, a house on the lake, season tickets on the forty-yard line, a faster computer, or the newest iPhone, we would have a good life. Unfortunately, the testimony of scripture and the lives of many wealthy people is that these things do not satisfy. These are all things that will pass away, and they will never fulfill the longings of the human soul. This is a deceptive "weed" that often squeezes out any growth in our spiritual lives.

Jesus also mentioned the "cares of this world" as something that will choke out any fruitfulness in our spiritual lives. All of the things we are anxious over and worry about. All the things we try to control but we can not. All of the things that we can't get over, forgive and move on from. All the cares, the concerns, and the things that keep us from sleeping at night or enjoying the life we have will distract us from pursuing the realities of life that matter most. We let the temporal prioritize the eternal and the physical push aside the spiritual. The result is that our spiritual growth is stunted. Weeds keep the grass from flourishing.

I hope the bag of stuff that I bought for my yard is helpful. But I know that God has provided a "bag of stuff" for us that will keep these spiritual weeds at bay and help the good seed of the Gospel grow in our lives. This bag is full of "Spiritual Disciplines," which will work absolutely every time we use them.

Prayer, worship, Bible study, fasting, scripture memory, and other spiritual disciplines will feed our spiritual lives and will be like poison to the "weeds" that the enemy tries to sow in our lives. So let's not let the weeds grow, but rather let's grow in our spiritual maturity and fruitfulness. So open the bag of spiritual disciplines and apply them adequately.