Children’s Message – Weeds in the Garden

Weeds in the Garden

Scripture: Romans 6:14, 18

Does your family have a garden?  What grows there?  You know sometimes I think I am best at growing weeds.          One thing that has always confused me is that grass in your vegetable garden is a weed and a bean plant in your yard is a weed.  But that’s a different message.  Today I want to talk about a particular plant that I planted in my flower bed.

I thought it was going to be a pretty, little plant that would stay down in front of the taller plants I already had planted and cover the bare ground.  The first year that worked out pretty well. But last year, it took over.  It grew way too tall and spread all over the place!  It even got so bad that it smothered some of the other flowers I planted.

So this year I decided to try to control the plant that had become a weed.  Since it is a plant that spreads by sending its roots underground to another place, I had to dig up the ground and sift it with my hands to get out all the pieces of root.  If any little root was left then another of those weeds would grow up there.  Once I got it cut back then I could put a piece of metal under the ground so the roots couldn’t spread over into my other flowers.  But I had to be very careful when I dug so I didn’t hurt the flowers I was trying to protect.

You know, those bad things we say or do that we call sin is a lot like that weed.  At first it seems like a pretty, little flower but pretty soon it takes over our life.  And when we try to get rid of it we have to work really hard to get all the roots out or it will come right back again.

A lot of grown-ups have a hard time understanding this, too.  They think once you have asked Jesus to be a part of your life, that you shouldn’t ever do anything bad again.  Even though I would like for there never to be any more weeds in my garden after I pulled all those up, I know there are going to be a few now and then, but if I pull them up right away then they won’t take over the whole garden.  Even though we want to be like Jesus we are going to make a mistake once in a while.  But if we ask for forgiveness right away then that sin won’t take over our lives.

Prayer:  Thank you, God, for forgiving us when we make mistakes and do something we know we shouldn’t have done.  Help us understand about your Son, Jesus, and how He lived so we can follow His example.  Amen.