It is Spring and with it comes weeds.  In the case of my yard, lots of weeds.  As I have been pulling the weeds out of the ground, I am amazed at how the root systems of the different weeds get entangled.  It is like they are helping each other stay rooted.  I had to pull several out at a time because of the way they held onto each other.  Then I would have to dig to find the roots that got left behind which I did not always find.  If I did not get the root, the weed would just grow back.  And what was really fascinating, depending on which part of the yard I was weeding, the weeds were different.  It was a lot of work.

This whole process made me reflect on Hebrews 12:1 and the words, “…let us also lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us…”  How does sin entangle our hearts?  Are there roots for the various sins in our lives that entangle other sins to stay a part of our lives?  Can we just root out one sin at a time or do we have to uproot a group of them?  How do we get the whole root so the sin will not come back?  And, do different sins reside in different areas of our hearts?

I do know this, only Christ can pull the whole sin, roots and all, out of our hearts.  We can get the surface piece (the visible plant).  We can make ourselves look good.  We can keep the truth (the roots) of what is really going on in our hearts hidden from others.  God, however, sees the roots.  In Christ, God pulls out the root with the plant.  Often, I feel, it means tackling several sins at a time because of the entanglement of our sins.  Our sins want to hold onto each other.   We want to give up some sins and not others.  And yet, to really heal our hearts of sin, all sin with their roots must  come out.  It is painful.  It is hard work.  It is a cleansing process.  And God, in His graciousness is patient with the process.  He is perfecting us in Christ.  I spent weeks pulling the weeds in my yard.  God uses our lifetime to weed out sin in our hearts.  He is patient toward us.

My yard looks so much better with the weeds pulled.  My garden plants are thriving.  The roots of my garden plants can spread and travel because they do not have to compete with the weeds.  The true garden plants are healthier because of the removal of the weeds.  We are healthier in Christ when sin, root and all, is removed from our hearts.  We thrive and are nourished.  Others are nourished because of our cleansed hearts.  Just as the garden plants provide food for our bodies, our cleansed hearts provide spiritual food for others.  We become an encouragement of faith.  We are able to “stimulate one another to love and good deeds” (Hebrew 10:24).

Even though I completely, as possible, pulled every weed in my yard, there are always new weeds to pull.  Yet, as I stay on top of the weeds, they do not have the control they had when I first started.  The roots are not as entangled because they have not had the time to grow and establish themselves.  It is still work, just not as time consuming.  I am not sure I can say less painful.  My back hurt a bit this morning after pulling weeds.

Hopefully, the same is true as we grow in the Lord and He removes sins from our hearts.  Hopefully, it gets easier to trust God with the process.  And, while still painful, hopefully we appreciate more the need to lay aside “the sin which so easily entangles us.”  I can say this has been true in my life.  As God has worked in my heart, it has become more tender to His work.  There is more of a quiet confidence to my faith as God does the painful work of getting my sin, root and all, removed from my heart.  I hope the same is true for you.