The Mother Ship Weed

There’s a weed I call the “Mother Ship.” In order to eradicate it, one must dig down at least 8 inches or so in the dirt with a shovel and then nose around with a trowel to locate the large white tuber from which all the surface weeds feed. If I pick the weeds at the surface, they just grow back, and in fact spread through the many feeder roots which find their source at the “Mother Ship.” Whenever I’m able to dig up one of these tubers, I feel truly victorious, triumphant that that particular patch of garden or yard will no longer host this nemesis.

The “Mother Ship” tuber is just like sin, isn’t it? Sin is rooted down deep in our very nature (Galatians 5:19; 6:8 to name just two). We can pick away at the surface of sin through our own power, cleaning up for a day, a month, or a year, but never really eradicating it once for all. A new shoot from the "Mother Ship" always rears its ugly head.

Thankfully, we don’t need a trowel, harsh chemicals or back-breaking labor to fight sin. And we don’t have to rely on ourselves. Believers have something much better: The full armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-18).

Jesus fought Satan’s attempts to tempt Him by quoting Scripture (Matthew 4). Ephesians 6:14 and 17 says we must do the same: “Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist…” and take “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” Scripture is the preventative that can block sin from taking root in the first place and is one of the ways God shows us the sin that is already there! Just consider it spiritual Roundup: a preventative and killer of sin all in one!

In addition to the Word of God, the other armor includes righteousness, faith, salvation and prayer. In short, we get access to this armor when we accept Jesus Christ not only as Savior, but as Lord of our entire life: attitudinal, physical, spiritual, and intellectual. Only then will the "Mother Ships" of sin in our soul begin to be eradicated.

“I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.” Psalm 119:11

“No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.” 1 Corinthians 10:13

“When tempted, no one should say, ‘God is tempting me.’ For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.” James 1:13-18