Iron sharpening iron (IV) Don’t fertalize the weeds!

I remember being told of a particularly persistent weed that covered my friend’s garden. They tried everything, but the weed kept coming back. Lopping off the heads certainly didn’t work, trying to dig them up by the roots, that didn’t work either, neither did poisoning them. They did eventually did get rid of them though sheer persistence. Of course, the last thing they wanted to do was to fertilize the weeds. It wouldn’t make any sense! Yet somehow we don’t seem to apply this obvious common sense to the weeds that so easily grow up in our hearts. Now imagine this was your garden, and you discovered that your wicked neighbour was secretly sowing weed seeds and fertilizer. How annoying would that be, and what would you do?

Inevitably, in any close relationship there will come a time when the honeymoon is over, and our best intentions likely will go right out the window! We begin to have unkind thoughts about each other. She knew that would hurt me, he deserves to be punished. She did that deliberately, that was just mean. He deserves my resentment. I’d like to give her a taste of her own medicine. This morning’s post comes out of a battle I found myself having recently, and there are two verses that go along with my thoughts. The first is “But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat” (Matthew 13:25). In particular we do have an enemy, and he has a destructive agenda (John 10:10a), but it is not our friend, it is not our partner (Ephesians 6:12)!

The second verse tells us “Guard your heart with all diligence, for out of it is the wellspring of life” (Proverbs 4:23). Modern research on the brain has revealed that not only is every thought accompanied by an emotion, but that the emotion actually precedes the thought by a split second. It is here that the father of lies tries to plant lies and seeds of discontent in our hearts. What I am saying, is that many times the thoughts that accompany our hurt feelings are not our own, they are sown by our enemy. And we can feed and fertilize these thoughts and emotions, or we can take every thought captive. We have been given the weapons and the authority. Sometimes however, not realizing all this, we have fed the weeds and they have formed into a stronghold. At such times, we need to know the truth that the weapons of our warfare are mighty. With these weapons, we can pull down these strongholds (2 Corinthians 10:4,5). It is likely a process, but it starts (a) with knowing that our struggle is not against our friend, (b) realizing that once again we have been hoodwinked by the enemy, and (c) knowing that the Lord wants to use this to refine us in the iron sharpening iron process (Romans 8:28,29 again).

Father, it is too easy, in the midst of the hurt, pain and sense of being let down, to see our friend or partner, as the enemy. Help us to stop Father, to turn to You, and to see every trial, temptation and difficulty as an opportunity to defeat the enemy, to have our hearts healed, and so to grow up in Christ. It’s not easy Father but we don’t learn to sail on a smooth sea. Thank You for Your promise that when You have tried us we will come forth like gold (Job 23:10). And we will give You the glory in Jesus Name Amen