Inspiration & Worship

from Smart Living Fort Wayne - June 23, 2022

Your Outdoor Living ...................................11

In a world that works so hard to control our minds, whether by commercialism, propaganda or peer pressure, it’s a stunning truth that God – who designed our remarkable brains in the first place – grants each of us full freedom of thought.

We can believe upon Christ Jesus or reject him. What’s more, if we choose to be “Christian,” we can use the power of our minds to internalize Christ and become his “imitator,” or we can wear the sacred label in name only, like a pair of brand-name blue jeans.

“Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children; and walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma.” – Ephesians 5:1-2

To walk with Christ, even when nobody’s looking – especially when nobody’s looking – is to get out the garden tools and yank the weeds from our lives, one by one. Some of us are pulling a lot of weeds, literally, this week, as they pop up with June vigor. Such labor brings to mind this anonymous poem once published on a seed packet.

When I Put on My Worn-Out Tweeds

When I put on my worn-out tweeds And with my hands pull garden weeds, The likeness always come to mind, ‘Tween weeds and sins of human kind.

For weeds will grow up anywhere In ground that’s either foul or fair, And when you pull them you’re not through; They’ll grow right up again for you.

Some weeds have roots so great in length That pulling them is test of strength, And they should be removed with care Or they’ll kill good plants anywhere.

It makes no difference where you go There’s no place that the weeds can’t grow; Some folks keep weeding, others won’t, Some folks have gardens, others don’t.

So weeds and sin are quite the same In growth and action, not in name; But different is their origin: God makes the weeds, we make the sin. ❚

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