Deceptive Charm

Our weather today is unseasonably warm, and it gets me thinking about spring already! I can’t wait until it’s warm enough to get my hands in the dirt again.

I picked these cute little weeds from my flower garden in the fall. Seriously, how harmful could they be? They’re tiny!

But look what was hiding beneath the surface . . .

Those roots were left behind from an earlier weeding session, when I tried to pull a much larger weed but didn’t get the whole root out. Instead of just dying, the roots sprouted new leaves.

Above ground, the little plants looked harmless enough . . . but under the surface, those deep roots were stealing water and nutrients from the plants I actually wanted to grow in my garden. If left unchecked, the new “cute” weeds would quickly grow, covering the surrounding earth with their broad leaves and keeping other plants from growing nearby.

And so it is in our spiritual lives.

There are many things that seem harmless enough, and so we give them a little of our time, attention, or money.

Then they start to grow. Soon they’ve taken a much bigger chunk of our resources than they did at first, but we may not even notice! Their growth in our lives is just slow enough to go undetected, until we’re caught in a trap of our own doing just because we weren’t paying attention to what was going on.

We wonder how we ever got to where we are, but the enemy of our souls simply moved in through deceptive charm. There’s a whole strategy behind the smooth takeover!

“This new phone game will help me pass the time while I’m waiting in line . . .” but before we know it, we’re checking for its notifications 20 times a day (or hour?). We can’t hold a conversation with a person who’s right in front of us because we might miss a chance to make a gazillion points.

“This new brand of chocolate is locally made, so I’ll support the small business owner down the street by buying a bit . . .” until we’re buying it weekly by the pound (or two) because it’s just right for an after dinner (and lunch and mid-afternoon) treat. Wait, WHAT does that bathroom scale say???

“I’ll hit the snooze today. I was up really late last night binge watching my favorite Netflix show . . .” and morning time with God goes out the window.

We forget that we only have a certain number of days on this earth, and a limited number of resources to manage while we’re here. We often fritter them away on things with no real value without even realizing it. Perhaps it’s time for a “Staff Evaluation” on ourselves, based on our position as Servant of God!

I challenge you (an myself!) to really look at how you spend your time, your attention, and your money. Are you wise with the resources God has asked you to manage? What is one thing you can work on weeding out of your life that is a distraction from your walk with and service to God?

One day, we will give an account of how we used what we now have. “Remember that you must give an account to God for everything you do” (Ecclesiastes 11:9 NLT). No one will get it perfectly right, but we can all be willing to be a work in progress!