Crabgrass

A man wrote to the department of agriculture to find out how to cope with the crabgrass that was spoiling his lawn. They gave him a number of suggestions, and he tried them all, but nothing worked. Finally, he was completely frustrated, and sought help again, informing them that every method they'd suggested had failed, and his yard was still filled with crabgrass. He got back a rather short reply which read, "We suggest you learn to love it."

You can probably relate to that problem of crabgrass if you have ever tried to remove habitual sin in your life. You may feel you have tried everything and nothing works. Change eludes you! The sin remains and maybe even grows!

Unfortunately too often, in a our failures at living a life a purity, we give up and come to live with our sin and maybe even love it.

One of the key struggles in the Christian walk is dealing with the process of change as we struggle to live a life of purity. Lasting change never comes about without a change in attitude, a change in heart. When we hate sin as God hates sin, we will be committed to avoid sin and live a life of purity.

But we also have to realise that we can never change our sinful nature in our own strength. We must cry as David cried, "Create in me a clean heart, Oh God" (Psalm 51:10) and "renew a right spirit within me."

When God creates a new heart in us, new actions will follow. Only through constant renewal in the Lord will the new actions remain and take root in your life.

* What are some of the areas of your life where sin seems to taking over your lawn?
* What are the attitudes about those sins that need to be changed before you can eliminate them from your life?
* Ask God, as David did, to create in you a clean heart, to change those attitudes to agree with His.
* Ask God to daily renew your heart and strengthen your spirit. Depend on him. Trust in Him. Trust in his strength.
* And when you fail, don't give up. Confess ask God to renew a right spirit within you!