I was out walking the other morning, and beside the sidewalk I saw the prettiest little flower. It was the blossom on a curly vine, and it had artfully encircled and climbed a tall stalk … a BIG weed. It seemed odd that such a sweet little flowering vine had attached and embraced such a thorny thing as that weed. I thought: “There’s no chance for you, little flower. Because very soon, that weed you’re clinging to will be pulled up and thrown away. And you will doubtless go with it.”
Now, it’s a good probability that the vine AND the big stalk were BOTH technically “weeds,” but as the sign in my mother’s garden proclaimed, “A weed is just an unloved flower.” So, for a brief moment, I loved that brave little blossom … and I grieved a bit. Because, for all its effort in climbing up so far, it had embraced a doomed weed—and, so, its days of glory were numbered.
Some of us are like that little vine. To start, we’re ALL WEEDS. There is no difference—we’re only fit for the burn barrel. “ALL have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.” But here’s the difference: while we were yet weeds, God loved us—and those who responded to that love were changed into something different—fresh and flowering. A totally new creation. “The righteousness of God is revealed … through faith in Jesus Christ, to ALL and on ALL who believe. (Romans 3:20-23 NKJ)
However, after being converted from weed to flower, there are those that long to reach a higher, showier place in the world. After all, the life of a Christian isn’t that glamorous. So, they climb what they think is the ladder of success—to be seen as “different.” They strive to exert their OWN will, to blindly trust in something else, that will never last. The higher they climb, the more entangled they become in selfish pleasures and habitual sin—prayerlessness and the neglect of God’s Word. They believe they’ve made the right choice, until they discover that the worldly WEED they’ve embraced and trusted is … doomed.
What WEED? A faulty belief system—not founded in God’s Word, but born of ignorance and confusion. Humanistic arrogance, not divine dependence. Opinions with no basis in TRUTH. Imaginations that defy God’s laws of nature. Distractions that steal hours from our life. The false assumption that “doing it MY way” is a plausible excuse for believing a lie. Before long, they realize they haven’t climbed higher—they’ve sunk lower. They’ve reverted back to the weed they once were.
Throughout Scripture, God spoke through prophets and teachers to caution HIS people of the dangers of turning from TRUTH and clinging to worthless lies. The Children of Israel, for example, were often warned, as “they rejected His statutes and the covenant He had made with their fathers … They pursued worthless idols and became worthless (WEEDS) themselves, going after the surrounding nations that the LORD had commanded them not to imitate.” (2 Kings 17:15) In clinging to weeds, they became weeds.
Addressing the people of Judah, Jeremiah declared: “Behold, you are trusting in deceptive and useless words (WEEDS) that bring no benefit”. (Jeremiah 7:8 AMP)
The prophet, Jonah, warned: “Those who cling to worthless idols (WEEDS) forfeit the grace that could be theirs.” (Jonah 2:8)
In Matthew 13:24-26, Jesus taught His disciples this parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.”
Our enemy is still intentionally fouling the LORD’s field with weeds. We are HIS good seed—growing in HIM—and we were never intended to seek out and cling to every weed of distraction that presents itself to us. But as long as we have a free will, there will always be the weak among us who choose to be weed-clingers. We might not even notice them. Standing together side-by-side, we seem to share the same beliefs, even go to church together. YET the tendrils of their heart are quietly beginning to wrap around a different god, with hidden affections contrary to true godliness and righteousness. They may look like true wheat, but they’re not growing that way. They’re tangled up with weeds.
Perhaps the weed-clingers feel like they’re getting by—unnoticed. No one is yanking them, so they think they’re okay. But the LORD of the Harvest sees—He knows the difference between the weeds and the wheat, and He is waiting …
“Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: ‘FIRST collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; THEN gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’” (Matthew 13:30 NIV)
He sees those that have been faithful—and those that have become insincere weed-clingers. “The wicked will be cut off from the earth, AND the unfaithful will be uprooted from it.” (Proverbs 2:22 NKJ)
My little flower by the sidewalk had no choice—its seed landed beside the weed and it naturally grew up clinging to it. But we DO have a choice—to stay rooted and growing in Jesus Christ. Not clinging to “immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry” (Colossians 3:5), but stubbornly embracing TRUTH. The WHOLE truth … and nothing but the TRUTH.
Prayer: Dear Jesus, don’t let me be deceived—clinging to what I falsely assume is truth, but is really nothing but a worthless WEED. Help me to know the difference. I only want YOU. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
