Friday 16 April 2010

Attractive Sins

The other afternoon, I finally got out into our garden and did some weeding. As much as I had tried to convince myself that the "weeds" may actually be some kind of rare or endangered species, and that I was doing the world a great big favour by allowing them to grow in our garden, I realised that they really weren't and I needed to get rid of them.

As I was pulling up our weeds, I noticed that some of them were actually quite attractive (no I definitely was pulling up weeds, don't worry!). A lot of them had pretty little flowers on them, and to be honest if they were growing in a planter instead of in the middle of our garden, I'd have been tempted to leave them alone.

But then, I was reminded of this post that I had read a few weeks before.

Using this analogy of comparing weeds to our sin, I started to think about how I had found some of the weeds so attractive. Could they be compared to sin?

Well actually, yes. Sometimes the sin in our lives can look very attractive and almost like they are ok. Some that I have been, and continue to be guilty of include:

- Neglecting quiet times to get more done around the home
- Neglecting our family responsibilities to do more at church
- Telling someone else about the news our friend had given us in confidence so that they can pray for our friend


I'm sure you can think of other things.

On the surface, all these things seem ok.

We are told we should get more done around our houses, and if they are clean, tidy and organised, then we are "better women." But are we really better off if we are neglecting our quiet times and our relationship with God. I know for a fact that when I fall into this trap, my home can look lovely, but I am not a nice person to be around because I'm not spending that time with God.

It can be tempting to do lots at church, to help out with lots of activities, and attend lots of events. But when all these things mean we are neglecting our families, they can feel resentful and there are lots more arguments.

Telling someone something so that they can pray for the other person involved may seem noble, but when our friend comes to us and asks how come so and so knows about my personal problems, we look a bit silly, and that relationship is damaged.

Just like my weeds looked attractive, so do these sins, at least initially. But I know that if I left these weeds, before long they would take over the whole garden, and if we are willing to let these "attractive" sins take root in our lives, before long we have big problems.

Just as I know that I need to keep on top of the weeding, so I know I need to keep on top of these tempatations to sin.

Keeping close to God, reading His word daily and spending time in prayer are all good "weedkillers." Its only when we see our lives from His perspective that we can see the things we need to weed out, and its only Him who can give us the strength to do the weeding necessary.

I hope that you have a lovely weekend, whatever you are doing, and that you are able to find time to ask God to show you where the weeds are in your life, even the attractive ones, and help you to do something about them, because He can and will.

John 15
Jesus said, I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.

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