Choose Life
Why do I let weeds grow in our garden? I have lots of excuses. I may be short on time or my energy may be limited because of the heat. Sometimes I’m just lazy. I tell myself it won’t hurt anything and don’t pull them. But weeds steal nutrients from the soil in which our fruits and vegetables are planted. Weed roots crowd veggie roots, causing them to become weak, susceptible to disease, growing small unhealthy fruit.
Just because they’ve “just popped up” is no reason to tolerate their presence, either. If I do, they’ll just continue to grow and will pop up in other places. It’s best to get rid of them when they’re small and easily removed, before they suck the life out of the other plants.
In the same way we know we should remove weeds from our gardens, so, too, we should protect our bodies – skin – from the damaging effects of the sun. The experts tell us to cover ourselves with clothes and sunscreen to protect from skin cancers. I know this wisdom well. I give this advice to Keith because he works long hours each day in full sun. But I hardly ever do it myself. I don’t practice what I preach.
Oh, I have good excuses: My MS is less active when I get Vitamin D from the sun, which also protects against various cancers and helps boost my immune system. And I look healthier with my gardener’s tan. So it must be that God intended me to benefit from the sun – right?
So, just like weeds left in a planted garden I tell myself no harm will come from not using sunscreen. I’m different – special, even…
But this morning I got the call that the irregular spot on my leg that was biopsied is skin cancer. I’m not different or special. And now I’ll need further treatment to be sure it’s all gone so it doesn’t spread.
Isn’t this also a truth to be applied to my spiritual life? Why, when our loving and Holy God says, “Go now and sin no more” do I think to myself, “Oh this won’t hurt anything,” or “that applies to them; I’m different; I’m special.”
If Jesus hates all sin because it robs us of life, like weeds in a garden or cancers in our bodies; if we truly belong to this loving and Holy God; if we truly are His “picked representatives, purified and beloved”; if we truly are set free from sin and death through His death and resurrection, why would we ever think that what He says doesn’t apply to us?
Deuteronomy 30:19 “…I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life so that you may live.”
Lord Jesus, I ask You again to examine every part of my life, just as I scrutinize my garden (and my skin). Show me every weed that needs to be uprooted. I humbly surrender my whole life to You, my loving and gracious Lord. I am choosing life today. Amen