“They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” Acts 2:42

I have a perpetual and irritating conundrum with weeds! So yesterday I decided to DO something about them instead of just pushing the problem to the back of my brain. Denial is not just a river in Egypt, and as mature believers, ‘weed’ NEVER choose to simply dismiss any REAL problem… right? Yet… here I was.

As I gathered the recommended materials for solving my own problem, I could almost hear the weeds screaming for mercy! With ‘Weed & Feed’ in my lawn spreader, I cranked up the dial setting 2 numbers past the recommended (if 5 is good, 7 is better, right?) and started pushing! With music playing in my ears and a smile on my face, I figured my lawn would be green and weed free by nightfall! I could almost sense the real grass crying out…”our hero!” But vanity quickly brought me back down to earth and I realized it doesn’t take much to become a legend in my own mind!

There are a few of my professional lawn friends out there who will read this and roll their eyes. I had consulted a few of them and was even told what to do… “HIRE SOMEONE!” The problem is the COST! Living with my weed problem is less painful than paying the price to eradicate them. But now, all I HAVE are weeds!

The definition of a weed is a plant growing where it is not wanted. Simple right? Yet even that definition is subjective, as some of us would prefer green weeds over brown grass any day! So I looked up some of the characteristics of weeds and here is what I discovered:

• Plants that produce an abundant of seed
• Plants that have an extensive root system that spread above or below the ground
• Plants that grow quickly
• Plants that can cause bodily harm to other plants, humans or animals

It is interesting to note that ‘weeds’ are ‘plants’ first BEFORE they are determined to be weeds. Which makes me think about Christians! How does one DEFINE a Christian. My dad used to say that, because it is so hard to tell, “a Christian is anyone who CLAIMS to be one.” But over time and like weeds, THAT definition doesn’t work either.

The verse today literally puts a ‘smack down’ on false Christianity. There are 5 characteristics, that make up a true disciple of Jesus Christ. By now you have gone to the verse and discovered only 4. But you might want to look again! I would NOT have such a big weed problem if I was truly ‘devoted’ to being weed free! In fact, I don’t really have a WEED problem at all now, do I?