Merciful Weeding
And when He comes, He will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment. John 16:8
The last week has contained lots of rain and little attention to the garden. The result is weeds. Lots of weeds. They are taking over. They are still small. They won’t be for long.
I remember the last time this happened. I so dreaded the task that I waited a couple of weeks to tackle it. By the time I got to them, there were weeds so tall they draped over the sidewalk.
One night I went out for some other reason and thought I should just cut back the big weeds. Each one was so tall that it was laying over. The appearance was much worse than reality. As I got down on my knees closer to the roots I could see each plant and they pulled right out. I moved from the big picture looking down on them to the specifics of the problem as I got down on level with them.
God is so gracious to us as He looks down on us. He sees the whole package, all of our sin. But when He convicts us of sin, He begins to show us one or two at a time. He never gives it to us all at once. Slowly but surely, over time, He reveals one root of sin after another so that we can pull it up and throw it away.
If He were to show it to us all at once, we would be overwhelmed and most likely lose hope of changing.
God points out our sin for one reason, to make us more like Jesus (Romans 8:29). He doesn’t show it to us to shame us or to punish us. He shows it to us so we can confess it, pull it out like a weed, and then He can forgive it. He says there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:1).
He says in 1 John 1 9, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
The character of God is such that in His love for us He wants to show us mercy. Proverbs 28:13 says, “Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses them will obtain mercy.”
God may use another person or He may allow the Holy to Spirit to nudge us so we know it is Him. Regardless of how we know, when God reveals our sin to us we need to turn from it for our own good.
Are you and I thanking God when He exposes our sin? Conviction is an act of His mercy.
When you or I feel convicted about the words that have come out of our mouths, or that gossip that we didn’t stop, that lustful thought or willful disobedience, let’s thank God for His mercy as we confess and live in the peace that comes from a clean conscience – just like the peace I feel when I look at my “clean” garden!