Root Out

Mark 7:20-23 “He went on: ‘What comes out of a person is what defiles them. For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and defile a person.’”

Contemplate your mind as a garden. Your thoughts are the vegetation which grow in the garden of your mind. In this garden are pure thoughts which are like wonderful fruits and honoring to the Lord. However, the evil one comes throughout the day and night to plant impure thoughts which are like thorns and briars and invasive weeds. These impure thoughts can choke out the wholesome fruits and take over the garden. It is our job to recognize evil thoughts as soon as they sprout and root them out. If we do not root out these judgmental thoughts, prideful pretensions, lustful desires, envy, vengeance, and more, then our garden will be consumed by them. Then we risk these thoughts growing to become something more than a thought and manifesting themselves in word and deed.

Take care to maintain the garden of your mind vigilantly. Make it a garden that would honor the Lord.