From May 13th, 2020
*** While working in the yard and specifically the garden and the thought occurs to me that Weeds are so much easier to pull out when they are small. Once they reach a certain size it is a battled to remove them. We are told in Romans 1:20 that the nature and truth about the living God are displayed in nature. That being the case I want to stretch this to cover the fact that sin in our lives is the same way. Sin starts small with little things that we allow or condone in our lives or the lives of others. If we do not deal with them when they are small and weed them out, they become larger with time and eventually bring us into bondage.
*** Now let’s call these little weeds by the name God uses. He calls them temptations (the desire to do something, especially something wrong or unwise. Dictionary.com). The scripture tells is in James 1:14-15 “Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away. These desires give birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death” (NLT). This is an encouragement to those who are entertaining temptations to root them out now while they are small. If you wait too long you will find yourself powerless to stop the domino effect that these things set into motion, ultimately resulting in death. Proverbs 6 gives us a list of weeds that need to be rooted out early to avoid them growing into the mature lifestyles of death described in Galatians 5.
Scripture References:
Romans 1:20 (NLT)
For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God.
Proverbs 6:16-19 (NLT)
There are six things the Lord hates— no, seven things he detests: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that kill the innocent, a heart that plots evil, feet that race to do wrong, a false witness who pours out lies, a person who sows discord in a family.
Galatians 5:19-21 (NLT)
When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God.
Hope Echos 
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