We are back into gardening season again. The grass is in need of regular mowing and the plants are beginning to do their thing. I am not the gardener in our house, but my wife has been diligently back outside again tending to it all.

Yesterday, she came in. She pointed out a plant in the garden. When it first sprung up, she tended it and cultivated. At first, she thought it was a plant that she wanted there. As time has worn on – so she told me yesterday – she has become increasingly convinced she has been cultivating a weed. How unfortunate! She thought that would make a good sermon illustration (so it’s not been totally valueless work!) Here are some ways I think it might apply.

Character

We all have different character traits. Some good, some less good. Some come to the fore in particular situations in useful ways. But it can be very easy to cultivate certain character traits – thinking them particularly good and useful – but then, in the end, discover that you were essentially cultivating a weed. It becomes apparent that supposedly excellent trait is really quite ugly.

Discipleship

Depending on your context, you might find this one more of less common. New people arrive at your church, they seem keen, together, understand their theology. They seem like great additions to your church. You pour time into them, you disciple them, you teach them. Until, over time, it starts to become apparent that they may not even be believers at all. You have spent your time cultivating weeds!

Sin

This is perhaps the obvious analogy. You start to coddle something in your life that seems good, looks great, surely something to be enjoyed. But over time, it becomes apparent that what you have been enjoying, what you have been doing, you are convinced by scripture that what you were doing all along is actually a matter of sin. You have been cultivating a weed! Worse, a weed that if cultivated will kill off everything else in your garden too – be killing sin or sin will be killing you!

I wonder what other analogies you might find with cultivating a weed?