James 1:19-21
“19 My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, 20 because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. 21 Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you.”

I like how a nicely tended garden looks, but I hate to weed. Well, actually I don’t mind weeding, I don’t like committing the time to it.

If we weeded our life of all of the evil that causes us to be slow to listen, quick to speak and quick to anger, I imagine we’d all be better off. That evil is the moral filth. That filth comes from us being centered on our self, not centered on the word planted in us, which can save us. The Word that Christ left us, that the Holy Spirit plants in the God shaped hole in our heart.

I have a nearly 300’ section along our neighbors fence that I’m fighting with now. Four years ago, it was 15’-20’ tall buckthorn (I love a sharp blade and a chain saw). For two years it was 4’ tall weeds. Last year we started to take it back. The spruce, native pine and arborvitae we planted were holding their own, but man, the weeds. They keep coming back. A lot of them look like desirable plants until BAM, seed, oops, should have taken that one out. I need to study the weeds more to know what’s a weed and what isn’t. I need to spend more time weeding and less time congratulating myself on how much better it looks than it did, on how far I’ve come. If I’m not diligent, it’ll be right back to where it was pretty soon. Weeds, like sins, like moral evils, ate like that.

My life is like that with sin, with the evil in my life. I am not always quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry. Unfortunately, quite the opposite quite to frequently. I need to spend more time being diligent, even though I don’t like to do it.

Human anger does not produce the results God desires. Cultivate the word God plants on our heart, weed out the intolerance, the evil, the sin. It’s never-ending work, and the results are worth it.

What does your garden grow?