The Unwanted Weed
By Christy Lowman
Burke County
I had every intention of writing about an animal this month but God showed me that He wanted me to write about something else instead.
We have been having warm weather the past few days here. Yesterday, I walked out onto our brand-new patio we installed last year and saw the teeniest, tiniest weed growing in the crack between two bricks. When I saw it, I was so disappointed. I could not believe it was there. The last thing I wanted was a weed growing on my patio. I thought that since there was a layer of roughly two inches of sand, then bricks on top of that, tightly woven together, and finally a layer of polymer sand to fill in the cracks, there would be no weeds. This top layer of sand is hard like concrete once it is set. So, I was shocked to see a weed had burst through and was thriving in a hairlike fracture of a crack.
I debated pulling it up or getting the weed killer out then I had a Jesus moment. I realized how much Jesus and His followers are like weeds.
As we draw nearer to the return of Jesus more and more people are going to dislike Christians. As Satan continues to feed hatred into the hearts of nonbelievers, the more they are going to want to get rid of us. Just like we want to get rid of weeds when they grow in unwanted places. Christians all over the world are already experiencing this. Some are persecuted, murdered, thrown out of their homes, and turned into slaves because they are simply followers of Jesus Christ. We are fortunate that in America we haven’t had to deal with it to that extent yet.
The good news is, weeds will always continue to survive. There will always be weeds. Jesus will always survive regardless of the darkest, gloomiest day. Remember the day when Jesus was crucified? When He died, the sky turned dark, the earth trembled and Satan thought he had won. But Jesus was not dead! Hell could not contain Him! He went to hell and burst the gates wide open and took the keys!!! Jesus will always be alive! That’s the best news ever!
Just like a single weed, Jesus living in one believer’s heart will grow and spread into Jesus living in multiple hearts! Because if Jesus lives in you, you will want to share it and shout it on the mountain tops regardless of the cost. You can’t hide Jesus; everyone will notice He lives inside of you! He will spread to others like wildfire because you cannot kill Jesus, just like you can not kill weeds. His flame is everlasting and can not be put out! Just like this tiny unwanted weed I have growing will continue to live. I can stomp it, poison it, pull it up, but it will continue to come back.
If you find yourself around people who don’t like you because you are a Christian, don’t fret, Jesus is with you and He is all you need. He will give you the strength and bravery to hold your head high and do our ultimate job here on earth which is to live Christlike, and spread the good news of Christ to everyone regardless of what happens to us. It’s okay if no one likes us, if we aren’t popular, if we don’t have any friends, or if someone considers us a weed and wants to get rid of us. The only thing that matters is what Jesus thinks about us and that we are doing God’s work. Don’t ever forget sometimes the ugliest of weeds have the prettiest flowers.
Dear Lord, please let us walk among the unbelievers boldly as we tell them about you. Help us depend solely on You to take care of all of our needs. Help us not to fall into peer pressure because we are called to be leaders, not followers. Help us be strong and courageous for whatever is to come our way. In Jesus’s name, I pray, Amen.
“And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Matthew 7:13 ESV
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Christy Lowman is a Christian author and illustrator that lives in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains with her husband and two children. She enjoys writing and illustrating books for all ages. Some of her short stories are published with Guideposts and HCI. Christy gives all the glory to God in everything she does. A portion of every book sold from the Small Bible Character Series will be donated to battle human trafficking. If you enjoy her books, “like’ her author page on Facebook and let her know! You can buy her books at //www.amazon.com/s?i=stripbooks&rh=p_27%3AChristy+Lowman&s=relevancerank&text=Christy+Lowman&ref=dp_byline_sr_book_1. You can reach her at //www.facebook.com/authorChristyLowman/
or christyssoaps@yahoo.com
You can read more Christian news from Christy here.
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