The Tale of the Insidious Weed

In the place we used to live, there was an insidious weed.

When we moved in, our neighbors discouraged us from even attempting to rid our property of these plants. This insidious weed dominated the greater portion of our yard and when it flowered, we were in allergy hell. The insidious weed resisted all attempts at removal or elimination. You could cut it, prune it, burn it, chop it, dig it up, or chemicalize it, to no avail. Any effort to make it disappear would work for a moment, grant you the illusion you had won, but just as you settled into victory, it would sprout in the night to mock you at sunrise.

This morning it showed up at my new home.

Not the actual weed, but the memory of it. It showed up in my sinful attitude and actions toward another person. Nothing blatant, mind you. I’m too practiced at sin to be obvious. Having devoted years to the habit of looking righteous, I’m skilled, in my flesh, at making sin appear to disappear. I cut it, prune it, disguise it, subvert it, and insert it subtly into my ways like the most accomplished magician until those around me are dazzled by the show even as I yank the carpet from beneath their feet. Lying on their backs reeling from the blows my subtle sin has dealt them, I’m sure their heads spin but I don’t see that because I’m gone before they realize what hit them.

It sickened me. I thought I had rid myself of the insidious weed of sin but here it flowers like ragweed and causes suffering all around.

When I realized what happened, caught the stench of my own bloom, I heard the same discouraging voices my neighbors used to raise about attempts to eradicate the insidious weed.

“Why bother?”

“Don’t waste your time.”

“It’s always been there and it always will be.”

“It can’t be overcome.”

These are lies from hell.

It’s true that the insidious weed, my sin, can’t be eradicated by my own efforts. The best I can do in my own strength is give the illusion it has disappeared. But the greater truth, the overriding truth, the truth that overcomes is that Jesus can remove my sin entirely so that I am a new creation, free from sin, and safe for others to love. Shortly after the appearance of the insidious weed in my home this morning, I sought the remedy, I went to Jesus.

Those of you who suffer from allergies, know the incredible relief when the symptoms abate. There is even greater relief when Jesus addresses the insidious weed that has taken root in our souls and removes it completely.

“For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.” Romans 8:2-4 ESV

Is there an insidious weed growing in your yard? Your home? Your heart, soul, mind?

Seek the remedy – Jesus Christ – and allow Him to free you completely with His sacrificial provision of forgiveness, grace, mercy, and healing, a healing that is more pervasive and complete than any sin.

Then, go ahead and tell the neighbors you’ve found the cure for the whole neighborhood.

**If you’re wondering, the name of the invasive weed on my old property was Japanese knotweed (Fallopia japonica)