Earlier this afternoon, prior to drafting this article, I spent time working in the yard. I began by mowing, edging, and trimming the front yard, and then worked some in the alley trimming the plants and pulling up wild grass and weeds. For several days I have pondered what to write about. Thinking about that work in the alley, God spoke to my heart asking what are some of the weeds growing in my life (garden)?

 

You see we all have some weeds growing in our lives, regardless of what we want to call them, it happens to be anything and everything that interferes with our relationship with God and with one another. At times it is those things we place in higher priority than God. It might be something that prevents us from participating in corporate worship and fellowship on Sunday morning. I can recall during my elementary school years church attendance was not always a high priority for my family. Likewise, during the 1980’s, church attendance and participation did not receive a high priority, as I was always looking forward to a day of rest on Sunday, after working six days straight.

 

Sometimes it takes a major event in our life to grab our attention and move us to reprioritizing our life. For me, it was losing my job in California a year and a half after moving there. The greatest fear I had voiced in March 1988 came to reality. Following losing my job, Rhonda and I moved back to Lubbock in January 1990. From that moment forward, unless prevented by illness, I have not missed an opportunity to participate in corporate worship. All of this, years before God called me into pastoral ministry.

 

Back to the weeds in our lives! We all have some form of spiritual weed infestation in our life! Yours may be different than someone else, yet they are still there. I tis time we identify our weeds and strive to remove them, so we can become more obedient and consistent in our spiritual life and relationship with God. For those little weeds are a lot like the little sin committed. If left unattend ed, or addressed, it can eventually become a bigger problem that one desires! Week after week, it is heart breaking to me, and I know if is to God as well, to see HIS people wander aimlessly thru life, just as the Israelites wandered aimlessly through the wilderness for forty years, because of their disobedience and persis tent complaining.

 

My prayer for you, as you have read this, is that you identify those annoy ing weeds in your life and remove them! May you find your spiritual garden filled with God’s greatest treasures and life to the full! Hope to see you in worship to fellowship with other believers! Shalom!

Pastor Tom