"Lord, Help Us To Uproot Any Weeds"

If a yard is left unattended for several weeks, isn’t it amazing how quickly weeds spring up and take over? Somehow, weeds don’t need tending — they seem to love to sprout up for anyone who just lets things go. However, a bed of beautiful flowers takes watering, feeding, and weeding. Flowers thrive under the care of anyone who is not afraid to get dirt under their fingernails.

The Christian life takes a lot work as well. It requires the commitment of one’s whole being to Jesus — body, mind, emotions, and will — in order to have a life that is wholesome, attractive, uplifting to others, and fulfilling to oneself. Even then, weeds of selfishness and sinful attitudes can quickly spring up and overrun the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23).

That was the problem with many brethren at Corinth. They had become overgrown with envy and divisiveness (1 Corinthians 3:1-3). So Paul told them to cleanse themselves from all “filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God” (2 Corinthians 7:1). The word “holiness” doesn’t mean they could be sinless, but blameless.

Our prayer should be, "Lord, help us to uproot any weeds of the flesh and spirit before they become ugly habits. May the beauty of Jesus’ character be what others see in us, in Jesus' name, Amen!"

"Let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me,
All His wonderful passion and purity;
May His spirit divine all my being refine,
Let the beauty of Jesus be seen in me." —G.L. Johnson

—Mike Riley, Gospel Snippets