The Rose Bush III
As sweat started rolling off my forehead (and not just from the weed-pulling), I realized even though this was intense; it was what I had asked God for. Weed after weed, I pulled from around the base of the bush. As I got closer I saw clearly how the larger weeds and vines weren’t just over the bush, but entangled all through the bush branches as well.
I started grappling with these vines and realized they were very different from the ground-dwellers. They broke off quite easily, which made them more difficult to dislodge completely. I had to stick my arm in between rose bush branches to get to the roots of the weeds. While doing this, my arms got caught and scratched from the weed vines and the rose bush branches.
After several scrapes, I stopped, sat back on my heels and took a breath. “Lord, this hurts, what am I supposed to learn through this?
“These weeds are like the sin you address in a general, shallow way. It’s the sins you temporarily stop, but aren’t really committed to fully rooting out or gettin to the bottom of.”
As a vine broke off in my hand, I realized I had sins like this. Sins I had gotten into the habit of stopping and starting. And sins I had rationalized as being “not that bad”. Then as I reached through other weed vines and rose bush branches to get to the root, my arms got caught and scratched. I could’ve stopped or given up; but I kept going. By this point hearing from God all He wanted to teach me was worth the pain.
Much like weeding an overgrown rose bush; habits are hard to break. It’s not impossible though. Also, we’re not expected to do it by ourselves. No one expected me to weed out the rose bush with my bare hands. I had gloves and tools to help. All I had to do was use them.
We aren’t expected to poot out sin in our lives by ourselves either. Many think we have to “clean up” our lives before coming to God to be loved and accepted. The truth is He already loves us. He wants to help us clean up our lives. Initially, by accepting His Son, Jesus, as our Savior. When we truly do this, he washes us white as snow. God also gives us the Holy Spirit to help us each day to live apart from sin.
Some believe the lie “this is just how I am.” The Bible is another gift God has given us to help root out sin, break habits, and confront lies with the truth.. With each of these gifts though, we have to accept and utilize them. They don’t help if we never accept them or leave them untouched to collect dust in the garage.
After many scrapes and scratches I found I was about halfway done. I sat back and saw the striking difference. The side still covered in weeds appeared to be derelict and dead. The side cleared looked beautiful and cared for. As I began to see the rewards of my efforts. I saw blooms and new buds I hadn’t noticed before.
In that moment God showed me how He works in our lives. Even though a life may be overrun with sin, He will bring beauty from it. Much like the weeds didn’t stop the bush from growing blooms and buds; nothing stops God from doing His will. Also like the weeds, while it cannot stop God, sin may hinder and conceal the beauty of His work.
God showed me how my own neglected sin had run wild and overgrown my life. He did this not to reject me though, He was using this to draw me closer to Himself. De-weeding our lives is a messy business. Expect discomfort and frustration –but remember why you started. Freeing the bush from weeds will help it grow & thrive. Living our lives with God and free from sin will help us grow and thrive in a world determined to entangle and tear us down.