Something that Wes and I are reminded of each year is that a well-kept garden is not defined by choice of plants, but how we deal with the weeds.
The plants are the easy part of the garden; it’s the weeding that takes work. Our gardening game starts out strong each spring as we prepare for the season ahead, but unless we are diligent in rooting out the weeds that are sprouting up amongst our plants, our garden becomes overgrown and unmanageable. Weeding is not merely an activity that occurs once a summer, it is something that must be done swiftly, and repeated regularly.
The same can be said of sin. We must deal with sin quickly and as it arises, rather than letting it take root.
Unless we keep a short account of sin, we run the risk of becoming easily ensnared by the ways of the world. We are constantly bombarded by the world’s messaging—through print, audio, visual and social media—and we can get sucked in to what the world is telling us. Paul admonished us in Romans 12:2, “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”
We renew our minds as we grow in our relationship with God through His Word and time spent communing with Him. Part of this involves not letting sin linger, but as we stumble, acknowledging it and repenting. This process of renewing our mind helps us to develop discernment in our Christian walk to filter through right and wrong. “But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age,” we read in Hebrews 5:14, “even those who by reason of use have their sense exercised to discern both good and evil.”
Like weeding, discernment is not something that just happens; it is developed over time as we walk consistently and closely with the Lord. Weeding is hard work and gardens require maintenance. Walking consistently and closely with the Lord is also hard work and it requires maintenance. Strait is the gate and narrow is the way, as Jesus said.
Like rooting out weeds, rooting out sin requires us to get to the very heart of the matter. We must be willing to recognize and call sin for what it is. Too often, we make excuses for sin, we rename sin, or sugarcoat it, or downplay it. Softening sin is much like removing the weed on the surface and foolishly thinking that it won’t sprout up again. It needs to be dealt with at the root. “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!” (Isaiah 5:20). While they may look like flowers, dandelions will always be weeds. When we refuse to root out sin, we will inevitably become soft to it. We must stop excusing our sin rather than taking responsibility for it.
We are all sinners. Christians are not perfect people, far from it. One difference in our lives should be how we deal with sin. Douglas Wilson uses the analogy of a house: “The difference between a clean house and a dirty house is not how many things get dropped. It is how many of those dropped things get picked up. The difference between a happy home and an unhappy home is not how much sin has occurred but rather how much repenting and forgiving has occurred.”
May we all learn to keep short accounts of our sin, and to stop making excuses for it.