Hello world! It’s almost springtime in Seattle! Can you see it? This will be my seventh spring in this lovely city, and I’m starting to learn some things. First, I’ve learned what a rhododendron bush actually looks like. I saw them when I visited Seattle in May 2010 before moving here, and fell in love with the “exotic-looking” bush, but I had no idea what it was called. Now I can identify one on sight and anticipate what time of year it will bloom.

I’m also learning seasons. Seasons of growth, pruning, death, re-growth. In our yard in particular. For example, March is rose-bush-pruning season. I cut them down to basically nothing, and I usually fear I have killed the poor bushes for certain. April-May is usually full of nice patches of sunny weather with a good amount of rainy patches, leading to a season of great growth. By May, everything gets greener & bigger. Our blackberry bushes exploded, and those rosebushes are four times bigger than they were two months ago.

As the plants thrive, so do the weeds. Everything with roots in the ground has been taking off lately. As I’ve spent time in our yard (which some day I would like to call a garden), God has been teaching me parallels about my heart. I think this is a beautiful thing he does with his creation: teach us about himself and myself through what he’s made.

What’s the parallel between my heart and a garden, you ask? We both have weeds.

Here’s the deal with weeds. When small and new, they are easy to pull out, and there usually aren’t very many of them. A few tugs and they’re out, root and all. When those weeds aren’t uprooted, they grow. When I attempt to uproot the weeds after ignoring them for months, I need some serious equipment and effort & time to get them out. It’s hard work. Roots are deep and widespread, and the weeds have multiplied.

And so it is with my heart. Weeds are like sin. I am a redeemed, blood-bought daughter of Christ, who, while waiting for the appearing of my Savior, still struggles with sin on a daily basis. Because of what Christ has done for me, and because of the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit living in me, I am able to live a holy life filled with good works, as is fitting for God’s family. However, I am in process of putting my sin to death, and will be until Jesus’ return. For the sake of this analogy, let’s call this “putting sin to death” process “weeding”.

Colossians 3 tells Christians to “put to death what is earthly in you”, and to “put on” compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, patience, and above all, love. Ephesians 4 tells Christians to put off the old self and put on the new self. I could keep going, as the New Testament is FULL of exhortation & reminder for Christians on how they are to act now that they are made new in Christ.

It is clear in Scripture what the standard of behavior is for me. Perfection. Complete, utter perfection in my behavior and my heart. Thanks be to Jesus, he won utter and complete perfection for me by his life, death and resurrection over 2000 years ago. Since I now have a perfect record that can never be tarnished, I am free to pursue perfection without condemnation when I fail in this current life while I wait for Jesus’ return.

Pursuing perfection means attacking sin when I see it in my heart and behavior. It doesn’t mean obsessively looking for it, spending the majority of my energy on sin-hunting and killing. Jesus Christ won freedom for me, and I firmly believe part of it is freedom from focusing too much on my sin. It means when the Holy Spirit highlights sin in my life, I confess and repent. Quickly. I do not ignore his promptings. I do not quench his voice by refusing to listen & holding onto the sin. I thank him for being kind to show it to me, for making a way through the cross to be free from sin, for the precious truth that I am not defined by what I do but by what Jesus has done, and I turn from my sin.

Just a note on his promptings. I’ve learned that as I listen to Jesus and seek his face, his voice becomes easy to hear. I learn it, and I know it. It’s gentle, and consistent with Scripture. When I hear his voice and refuse to go where he leads or do what he tells me to do, I am automatically listening to someone else. Myself, or the world, or the enemy. When I do this, it becomes harder to hear his voice. I experience a lot of confusion and no clear direction. God, as a loving Father, begins to yell at his daughter who is straying into danger, just as I yell at my daughter who is disobeying her mother and walking into the road.  I experience consequences from not listening to my Father, who knows best. It’s painful. It’s hard. Don’t ignore the quiet promptings just because they’re quiet. That’s the voice of your Father beside you. Listen to him. Go where he says to go. Do what he says to do. If it’s uncomfortable, do it. It may be uncomfortable because your flesh is complaining. You’re killing your flesh as you turn from your sin and obey Jesus. Do it. It’s life for you.

There are weeds I have let grow for the last two months in our yard. Today I spent over an hour digging & yanking, and I cleared about 1/20 of what needs to be cleared. There’s some serious work to do! If you have serious work to do in your heart, and you’re a child of God, there’s good news for you. Your heart is actually not your own anymore. Jesus has your heart. He is your Gardener. You belong to him. He is with you. He will help you. He has promised to do so, and he cannot break a promise. If you are serious about following Jesus and putting your sin to death, I highly recommend regularly praying David’s prayer in Psalm 139:23-24, and expecting Him to answer. “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!”

 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. ² Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. ³ Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. ⁴ Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.”

John 15:1-4