The Weeds that can harm us!

We were meditating as a church on the Parables of the Lord from Mattew 13. The imagery of farm land, farmer, seed, birds, harvest bring to our mind the original design of our creator. He created Adam to take care of this earth. The enemy came in and sowed weeds that corrupted the original design. Yet there are hearts where the good seed fell and it will yield the desired fruits. The Word of God talks to us about some roots we need to be careful of.

1) Root of Bitterness(Heb 12:15) The Writer to the Hebrews encourages the community not to compromise on any bitter root (a weed) that can make one fall short of the grace of God. Grace of God is the standard to which we need to excel. Grace is not a weak term that we can hold on to when we fail. Its the generosity of God. the free flowing goodness of God that was revealed in calvary and our works should match it. The grace of God delivers us from "us" and allows us to live for Him. The writer to the Hebrews brings the attention of the reader to Esau who wanted a blessing after he made a wrong choice. The warped thinking was because of the sexual immorality that he slipped into. Even after much tears, Esau was not reinstated. The inheritance that He had was because of grace but His works prevented him to enter into the blessings of God.

2)Root of all evil(1 Tim 6:10) The love for money and wealth is an weed that we need to be careful about. St Paul in his epistle to Timothy advices him like a Father to not let the lure of money and greed come his way. The love of money is the root of all evil. People eager for making money wandered from faith and pierced themselves with all kinds of grief. Life is not about making money or enjoying its riches. Its about seeing the generosity of God and applying that principle in our day to day lives. A currency note or soil never determines our worth. Our creator who fashioned us in His image desires that we weed "the love for money" out of our lives. Remember Judas in the New testament and Achan or Gehazi in the Old Testament. They lost it all because of the love for money and worldly possessions.

3)Root of Thorns(Power grab)( Judges 9:15)

Abimelek set his eyes on the throne of being the judge for Israel after Jerub-baal's(Gideon) death. He went to Shechem and suggested his name to his relatives. The people of Shechem chose Abimelek and he decided to murder all his brothers. He killed them all on a single stone but Jotham escaped the slaughter and climbed Moount Gerizim(Judges 9:5-7). From atop Mount Gerizim, which overlooks Shechem, Jotham delivered his “Fable of the Bramble King,” a story damning Abimelech and cursing the people of Shechem. He illustrates how the trees decided to appoint a king and then sent the proposal to Olive, Fig and Wine. They said a resounding No to the proposal as they didn't want to fall out from their calling of bringing joy to God and man(Judges 9:9-13). The thorny bush however accepted it and said to the trees to come and take shade under it. If they were not ready, the fire would come from the thorny bush and burn up the cedars of lebanon(people of Shechem). The story goes on to illustrate how Abimelek killed his own people and how Abimelek was then killed by the millstone thrown on him by a woman in the tower(Judges 9:53). Power should not be for control or manipulation. Power or positions should be used to bring a decisive, radical change for the better in the people's lives. One thing ascertained by this is -an evildoer will not go unpunished.

We need to be careful in not giving into the lure of money,sex and power!