All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;
2 Timothy 3:16
I have this weed in my yard that I periodically go online and try to identify. I pull and I cut and I dig and I curse it and yet each spring it greets me more vivacious than the last.
Anytime someone that knows plants comes to visit I drag them down our steep driveway, where it alone grows, with hopes that they will know what it is. Only now it can be found on the far corner in the front yard.
My neighbor has tried to remove it for me. I have not seen it in her yard yet, though it is only a matter of time. I know we both fear its migration there.
I am currently doing a Beth Moore Bible Study on the fruits of the Spirit called Living Beyond Yourself. This week it is focusing on patience. Today’s lesson was about judgment. She says, “Judgment strangles patience and grieves the Holy Spirit.”
When I read this, I envisioned a row of hollyhocks with some viney weed with its tendrils wrapped like a python around the stem of the plant. I can sketch a hollyhock, but have more difficulty with the viney weed, so I went on line to find a picture.
The first picture I came to was of a Japanese knotweed : Fallopia japonica. The unidentifiable weed growing in my yard. It is not viney although that is what I typed into the search engine. I felt like the Lord identified a weed growing in my garden at the same time He revealed the one rooted in my spirit.
In the description of the weed it says that it has attractive flowers and fruit. I wonder how often we mistaken the flowers of judgment as wisdom?
In the description of the weed it says that it has attractive flowers and fruit. I wonder how often we mistaken the flowers of judgment as wisdom?
As I was reading, I was thinking about the next step after weeding out. I'm no gardening expert but I know that our lives are always producing fruit, either good fruit or bad fruit. I was thinking about how important it is to plant something in its place after a weed has been dug up. I've heard many times of weeds "re-growing" after being dug up and therefore I think it's not only important to uproot but to plant, feed, and water so that good plants can take root where the old ones used to be. This reminded me of a Scripture in Jeremiah.
ReplyDelete"See, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms,
To root out and to pull down,
To destroy and to throw down,
To build and to plant.” -Jeremiah 1:10
As a prophet, Jeremiah was not only called to uproot and destroy the work of the enemy but God asked him to also build up and to plant. We know that according to the new testament, we are called to encourage and build up others with the word of the Lord. With weeds in our Spirits, we have to ask that the Holy Spirit not only uproot it, but to plant the truth in its place. Then to water what has been planting and bring increase!
Really good stuff. Thank you, Jordan.
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