“In the same way, you who are younger, submit yourselves to your elders. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.” – 1 Peter 5:5
We are not farmers, but this year, for some reason, our family decided to plant a garden. It turned out to be a great experience. There is just something amazing about putting a seed in the ground and watching a plant grow and begin to produce fruit.
Our garden grew fast, and before we knew it, there were all kinds of fruits and vegetables in our yard. We had tomatoes, peppers, onions, squash, strawberries, and asparagus. It was unbelievable!
The most amazing thing to me was how fast the plants grew. But you know what grew even faster than the plants? The weeds in the garden. The crazing thing is that we didn’t even plant seeds for the weeds. We didn’t water them or fertilize them or care for them at all. But you know what? They were there anyways. And if we did not pull them by the roots about once a week, they would have taken over our garden and prevented our plants from producing.
You see pride is like a weed in our life. You didn’t plant it to be there. You never planted a seed for pride…but for some reason, it is there. And the Bible shows us that pride, like a weed, will consume you if it is not addressed.
We may not realize it, but this weed called pride also came from a tiny seed. You didn’t plant it, the devil did. And it is a seed that says, “I care more about myself and my preferences than I care about other people. I care more about me and my will than I care about the will of God.”
It is like there is a battle taking place in our souls. And the tug-of-war we experience is oftentimes our personal preferences vs. the progress of God. It is “I’m going to focus on the Kingdom of God vs. I’m going to focus on the kingdom of me.”
So what about you? Will you allow the weeds of pride to continue to grow? Will you choose your kingdom or God’s Kingdom? If you wisely choose His Kingdom, be prepared to start pulling weeds!