Where do weeds come from?

     Just back from a week of vacation and upon inspection of my flower beds and gardens I was appalled with the growth of weeds.  Not that the other wanted items didn't grow, but the weeds!  They were tall and strangling my other plants.  Weeds!  They are the gardener's enemy just like the weeds that the devil plants in our lives as well.  Some weeds are actually thought to be something other than weeds.  People make wine out of dandelion, use the root for a diuretic and use the greens for food.  Yet, they remain a weed to me.  There is an organization here in Washington that calls for the preservation and propagation of the dandelion as if it was an endangered species!  Sanctifying that which should be eradicated.  That's the way it is protecting other things as well.  We see that the world is working overtime trying to protect their rights to sin against God as well as their fellow man.  The weeds of the world are so much more damaging than dandelions.  I can remember one of those moments when I became aware of what my world had become as a teen.  We lived on a farm where we had a lot of cattle and milk cows along with pigs and chickens.  The smell of their poop was present all the time.  We grew up with the smell around us like so many of the farm kids in the area and thought nothing of it.  The first time I went back home after being away for a spell I was hit in the face with this smell and realized that it was offensive.  When we consider the weeds in our lives have we become so attuned to them that we don't even recognize them?
     When my two oldest children were young I used to take them on walks.  Whenever I saw a coin on the ground I would pick it up and put it in my pocket.  My son asked me how I saw the coins so easily.  I explained that I knew what the sidewalk looked like so anything that didn't look like sidewalk caught my attention.  With that he too began to pick up coins that he saw on the sidewalk.  We can do that as Christians with the weeds only if we acknowledge that the weeds are not part of the Christian life.  If we think we can do this sin or that sin then we will no longer see them as weeds that are robbing us of life.  Whenever we step into a situation where we are okay with the sin presented or the group presenting that sin, we have the opportunity to say that this weed doesn't belong in our garden and opt out.  What we do more than often is take the other road.  We shrug our shoulders and leave the weed in place thinking that it has nothing to do with us and won't affect us.  It's only a matter of time before we are walking in the same mess of weeds thinking they are pretty flowers like dandelions. 
     Today I will go out and pull weeds from my gardens and flower beds.  Others have asked me how I know what the weeds look like in relationship to the many other plants that are planted there.  I tell them that I've been around weeds a long time, know the difference between a weed and a flower and that I've been pulling weeds what seems like my whole life...literally.  It's the same in the Christian life.  How do we know what a weed is?  The sin within the Christian church is outrageous and inexcusable.  Yet, those who lead the flock know what they need to do to keep the money coming into their pockets.  They act like, speak like and think like a weed because they are weeds.  The devil is their closest friend.  If I plant a weed in someone else's garden (life) then I am guilty as well.  We have the choice to choose to plant Jesus in the world around us or the devil.  Weeds come from the devil and the world he controls.  It's your choice whether you like or hate the weeds.  It's always been your choice.