HSBC Coffeebreak Devotional

Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
Phil 3:13-14

As I was out in my little garden of sweet peas today doing a much needed weeding job, I got to thinking about those pesky weeds. You know, I plant those sweet peas every year and pamper them constantly hoping that they will come up. Weeds are not like that. Not only do they come up uninvited, but they don't seem to need any special treatment to thrive. If I let them, they would quickly outgrow my beautiful little flowers.

The more I ponder this, the more I think how much it reminds me of my own spiritual journey. The weeds are my flesh. Encompassed in this flesh are my sin nature and my past hurts and insecurities. As I am weeding, the weeds always seem to trick me and break off at the base leaving a root there that will all too quickly come back bigger and stronger the next time I try to kill it. Many times I think I have dealt with an issue, only to find out the root is much deeper and harder to get to. I find that as a Christian, I sometimes don't even want to admit to myself what the root is because "Christians" don't feel that way or struggle with this.

The good news is that God knows more about us than we do and He still calls us His beloved! I love that word, beloved! He is the gardener of our hearts. And it gets better - He wants to free us from all the weeds that have taken a good hold of us. Do you have hidden anger or bitterness? God can do a healing work in your life, as He did in mine, and tear that stuff out by the roots so that it will never come back to choke out your beautiful colors again. Hallelujah! He is an AWESOME God!

I will close with a little story I read in Dr. Laura Schlessinger’s The Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands. A grandfather says to his grandson, "Grandson, there are two wolves living in my heart and they are at war with each other. One is vicious and cruel, the other is wise and kind."

"Grandfather," said the alarmed boy, "which one will win?"

"The one I feed," said the grandfather.

Written by
Joanne Kauzlarich