How is Your Garden Growing?
“…Other seeds fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them…”—Matt. 13:7
Does that describe your garden?
Dane Ortlund, in his book How Does God Change Us?, writes:
“Right now, every one of us who is in Christ is either killing sin or being killed by sin. Either getting stronger or getting weaker. If you think you’re coasting, you’re actually going backward. It may feel as if you’re currently in neutral, but our hearts are like gardens: if we aren’t proactively rooting out the weeds, the weeds are growing.”
So how do we proactively root out the weeds?
Name Your Sin
Ask the Lord to define a particular area in your life that needs uprooting:
a sin that keeps you in its grip
a hidden lust you are feeding
a false belief that entraps you
a relationship that leaves you bitter
Bring It to the Lord
Whether we are the one perpetrating the sin or on the receiving end of it, how we respond to sin is very telling. Whenever we entertain or harbor sin, we cut ourselves off from Him.
Any sin is an offense against God (Ps. 51:4). Therefore, the first step in weeding out sin requires we restore that relationship.
Honestly, this may be unnatural or uncomfortable. We might feel resistance. Shame. Fear.
So many of us prefer instead to deal with sin by our own wisdom or strength.
Yes, we are to be active in working out our sanctification (Phil. 2:12), but even that strength comes from God (Phil. 4:13).
But coming back to Him, abiding in the Vine, is where the master Gardener can begin working in us, pruning where necessary, to encourage fruitfulness (John 15:1-5).
Commit to Repentance
After we have restored our relationship with Him, we want to commit to repenting. This means turning away from that sin towards God and then towards others in love. Doing this helps us to ensure that our confession is sincere.
Commitment is not just about consistently moving in a Godward direction. It is also refusing to let failure discourage us from trying again.
We demonstrate faith in the gospel when, after repeating an old sinful pattern, we humbly go back to Him. Instead of giving up, we seek His forgiveness yet again. The God who reinstated Jonah and Peter gives us courage to try again.
Discern and Design a New Path
Restoration with God is the first vital step, but it doesn’t end there. Now, we need His help to take new steps of faith towards a new way of responding to that sin.
Getting rid of weeds requires digging down deep to the root. In uprooting sin, that means getting to the heart of the false belief, the idol, or the inordinate desire that powers us and asking God to help us at that point.
It is replacing the false belief with truth from His Word. It is putting off the old and putting on the new (Eph. 4:22-24).
Search Scripture, near, wide, and long to understand what the path of truth looks like. Consider stories, wisdom literature, parables, and godly counsel the Word provides to understand what God does desire.
Identify spiritual disciplines that can help train you into a new way of thinking, speaking, and/or living, like Scripture memory or prayer. Link several of these into a rule of life. Work them into your routines.
Read books on your particular topic to hear how others have tackled your same issue. Doing this with other people can sharpen you even more.
The key to installing new habits is not simply by getting rid of old ones. Rather, the best way to make a chance is by installing a new habit, one that, with practice, becomes stronger and more natural than the old one.
Ask God to help you both discern and design a new path to take when temptation strikes so you can walk in a manner worthy of His calling for us (Eph. 4:1).
Expect Resistance and Persevere
Despite our diligence, the weeds somehow manage to multiply, so expect the same in your soul. As Ortlund says, if we are not proactively uprooting, they will keep growing. So roll up your sleeves and make weed-pulling a habit.
How is your garden growing?
