One thing that captures my attention whenever I see or think of weeds is this: They grow without anybody planting them. The soil will be taken over by weeds if nobody cares for the field.

When weeds grow, they don’t need anyone to take care of them. And when they are left to themselves, they flourish more than any plant, flower or tree that you can think of.  And they take over anything that has life in it.

We don’t see weeds in the garden where there is a gardener, do we?

When you see someone’s garden and notice the beauty and pattern of the flowers, you won’t say, “God blessed these people with a beautiful garden”.

Do we? Nah! We don’t! Rather, you probably say, “What a devoted Gardener!”

You see, sin in our life is just like weeds. When we ignore our spiritual life, when we don’t water it with prayers and studying the Word of God, our flesh will be infested with all kinds of sins. It is not something we work hard to get our flesh infested by sin. It just happens, by itself, without anybody helping it.

When we choose to separate ourselves from the life giving “Vine”, we drown in sin. It is not something we go and bring into our life. Rather it is a natural phenomenon which occurs to everybody whose life is separated from the Vine. Yes, Jesus is the Vine and we are the branches. And a branch cannot bear fruits or do nothing once it falls down from the Vine.

Jesus said, “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.” John 15:1-5 NASB

Let’s settle one truth here: None of us can say “No” to sin, Period! We just can’t! It doesn’t matter who we are. Simply put, we can’t! Our natural inclination is to sin. We can’t naturally choose “not to sin”. Sinning is the language of our flesh. Naturally, we can’t lead a righteous life. We need a Gardener to get rid of the weeds from our lives.

Jesus in us is the only Gardener of human life. Jesus in us is the only hope we have (Colossians 1:27) He is the only One who can say “No” to sin in us. But we have to allow “Jesus” to continue living in us.

When we choose to separate ourselves from other believers, from the word of God and prayer, we have only one thing left for us to inherit and that is to sin. And sin is not a respecter of person. It takes over anybody’s life that doesn’t have a Gardener.

It is always up to us which way to choose. I don’t know about you but for me and my house, we choose to run to Him who can only save us from our own natural sinful inclination. ///