Lent – Day 11
About every 3 months, we have to get our in our yard and pull weeds, do extra edging, trim bushes and trees, and lay some mulch. After a freshly cut grass, beautiful trim work bushes under control, trees trimmed, and the mulch where it supposed to go, we stand back and it looks good. Now our backs are hurting and we’re stinky, but the yard looks good. But do you know what happens in a couple weeks, or maybe a month? You guessed it, the yard is back to a mess, mulch has somehow traveled across the yard, bushes are overgrown, trees need trimming, and weeds are all over again. It’s exhausting trying to keep my yard clean and nice when things keep growing out of control all the time.
And so it is with our hearts. Even with the saving grace of Jesus, there are sins that continue to grow like weeds, refusing to die fully but come back when no one is tending the garden of your heart. And so often they creep in without us noticing.
Maybe you find yourself feeling jealous of someone’s new car, their relationship, or their faith. Maybe you find yourself consuming screens, food, or whatever your vice may be. Maybe you continue to find yourself angry or apathetic without a full understanding of who or what you should be angry about.
Sin has a way of becoming big, long before it’s even noticed which means we need to continually search our hearts and minds for the things that are contrary to God’s desires. I often go back to Romans 8:1-4 where Paul is describing what it is like to live as a redeemed disciple of Jesus. He says, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 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.”
During Lent, we focus on our sin, not so we can experience the full measure of grief and shame, but so that we can understand the way the Spirit is transforming us into the likeness of Christ. When we understand our sin, we understand what it truly means to be “set free in Christ Jesus” and “walking according to the spirit.”
Spend some time today looking at your responses to the people and situations in front of you and how you may find weeds among them. Ask yourself, “What is causing me to react the way I do or why do I choose to respond that way?” It’s a good way to begin to see the root causes of our sin.