For 40 plus years we drove a major highway between Reno, NV and Fernley, NV. There were nice productive meadows along the way, filled with green grass or alfalfa, orchards, livestock....well watered by the Truckee River flowing lazily eastward....A nice drive...before the desert drive in to Lovelock, NV....
At some almost imperceptible point a weed started growing along the river, brought in by a bird, a bale of hay, a truck....something...at first it seemed small, and not troubling...then it slowly spread from one patch to another, creeping along the banks, taking over one field after another until the whole canyon, all the once productive meadows are totally destroyed. ...taken over by a weed that animals don't eat, sniffing out the green grass, and has no value at all...no one stopped it at the beginning...before it spread...
It is disheartening to see the wasted once productive pastures .....
It is more disheartening to see that happen in people lives...once productive people who have let "weeds" grow in their lives over time making them ineffective in God's kingdom...or turning them away from their Father or calling...it just takes one little seed left to grow....one little sin left to spread to ruin a fulfilling ministry...but we see it all too often...
There is always openness on God's part for repentance and coming clean ....He is always waiting to make that life anew...change ....take those "weeds" away....I have seen it over and over again...in my own life and others...we want to be like those well watered, productive fields ....not the ones choked with weeds and sin...
Thank YOU that You love us so much, desiring that we following the plans that you have generously prepared for us...not filled with weeds, sin...but green and welcoming to others, abundant....help me me be diligent in watching for weeds and sin I my life and confessing it asap...not letting it grow behind control.....nor like the sluggard who let things go...
1 John 1:8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.
Matthew 13:24-30 Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared. “The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’ “‘An enemy did this,’ he replied.“The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’ “‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’”
Matthew 13:37-43 He answered, “The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the people of the kingdom. The weeds are the people of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels. “As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears, let them hear.
Proverbs 24:30-34 I went past the field of a sluggard,past the vineyard of someone who has no sense; thorns had come up everywhere,the ground was covered with weeds,and the stone wall was in ruins. I applied my heart to what I observed and learned a lesson from what I saw: A little sleep, a little slumber,a little folding of the hands to rest— and poverty will come on you like a thief and scarcity like an armed man.
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