Women’s Connect October Devotional
Take some moments and enjoy this wonderful devotional written by Bethany Kroeze. Let’s allow the Holy Spirit to speak to our hearts and illuminate any places where we may be hiding or harboring sin. His kindness leads us to repentance. Focus on His heart, His kindness towards you and be transformed.
Blessings,
Rachel Greene
Weeds
I pulled a few weeds today. The joys of being a homeowner, right? As I hunched over, pulling weed after weed, I tried to pinpoint when my yard went from lush, green grass, to dormant grass overrun with weeds of all shapes and sizes. To be fair, my yard had a rough start to its young life. Laid down as sod one brisk late-November day, the roots barely had time to dig into their new home before being blanketed in seven inches of snow. After a long winter buried in snow, spring arrived, and then summer quickly rushed in with its heat…and drought. The grass, longing for any bit of moisture, rejoiced at a brief rain shower,
but the weeds sucked up all that moisture and suddenly towered over the grass, spreading across the lawn, squashing any hopes the grass had for regrowth.
So, I pulled weeds. Two five-gallon buckets full, to be exact. As I stepped slowly up and down and around my yard, I thought about the message I heard in church this morning. One of the applications was to get out in nature and rejoice in God’s creation. So tonight, I chose to kill two birds with one stone: I popped in my headphones, turned on my worship playlist and started pulling weeds. It was a task I’d been avoiding for a couple weeks and at times, I felt like the weeds were almost mocking me for waiting so long to clear them from my yard.
As my playlist sang songs about Christ’s redeeming love, I tried to listen for God’s voice in the lyrics. What do you want to teach me, God? I’m listening.
As I made my way around the yard, I noticed how easy it was to pull out the tiny weeds, but the larger weeds took more effort, especially to get the entire root out of the ground. I also observed how easy it was to just walk by and ignore the smaller weeds, even though they were easier to pull, because they were harder to see. Often, the smallest weeds blended in with the small patches of green grass that was still flourishing. The weeds had not grown taller than the grass and were still competing for nutrients with the grass that was supposed to be there. But the larger weeds stood out against the grass, quite often killing the grass around them as they grew taller and wider.
Isn’t the same true with sin? How often do we confess what we consider “small” sins? Swearing when someone cuts you off in traffic, cheating in a board game with your family, silently judging your coworker for their mistakes. We chalk it up to human nature and don’t give those things a second thought.
But when we ignore the little sins, just like the little weeds, they grow bigger and become harder to eradicate. If we ignore the little sins, just like I ignored the weeds in my yard, they grow and spread and before we know it, the yard is filled with towering weeds instead of fresh green grass. To get rid of the big weeds, we need to pull on a pair of gloves, grab the heavy-duty weed spray, maybe even ask a friend for help. The same is true with sin. On our own, we cannot erase our sins. We need Jesus. Without his death and resurrection, we would be bound to death for every sin. When we surrender to Him, our sins are washed away by His blood.
So, if you struggle with sin, or see your friends and family struggling with sin, don’t wait for the sins to grow and take control like the weeds in my yard. Lift each other up in prayer, confess your sins, and turn to Jesus – He is all you need for a thriving life.
- Bethany Kroeze