This Tuesday was the first day of Fall—the rainy season will be here before you know it. On one hand, I'm glad I won't have to water the yard. But on the other hand, rain-soaked soil is going to germinate ‘weed seeds’ that have been dormant all summer! Over the next few months, these weeds are going to sprout and increase in number and size until they take over my plants and shrubs. I loathe the thought, but the day of reckoning (pulling weeds) is inescapable.
Do you remember Jesus’ parable on “sowing,” in which He says the Word of God is a seed (Luke 8:11)? Jesus illustrates how the seed planted in good soil (our receptive hearts) will sprout, spring up, grow and increase. Peter also uses this metaphor, saying we have been born of imperishable seed through the living and enduring word of God (1 Peter 1:23). The problem is that when we were born again from this “living” seed, our hearts were already seeded and weeded with misbeliefs and unbelief. The uprooting of these weeds and replacing them with good seed is called “transformation.” (Ro. 12:2)
James explains that the transformation cannot be effective unless the Word is “engrafted.” (1:21) Used only this one time in the Bible, the word means to implant or embed. The seed must be deeply planted within the “soil” of a heart where it can sprout, spring up, and increase until it controls the mind, heals the emotions, and realigns the will. But for this to happen, the Word must be embedded, and remain there in a permanent fixed position long enough to be deeply rooted.
What is keeping the Word of God from “growing like a weed” in your heart? God’s powerful Word should be taking over and pushing out everything in its way. Perhaps you’ve been putting off the day when you will have to pull those weeds of unbelief from your heart to make room for new seeds of truth. Stop ignoring your weeds: the day of reckoning has arrived.
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