When Weeds Become Trees

From Weeds to Trees

Driving this weekend, I passed a very large, old building that caught my eye. Not because it was beautiful, but because trees had grown right up against it. The roots were cracking the foundation. Branches were pushing against the roof. Nobody planted those trees. They just stopped paying attention. A woods (a grove) had grown around the building that sat right in the middle of town!

That image stuck with me because it's exactly what happens in your spiritual life when you stop being intentional about serving God. The Bible says it is like a little slumber or folding of the hands. God takes the time to prepare the ground of your heart for planting and Jesus said the heart is like soil: it can be hard, stony, thorny, or good. The same heart that receives God's Word well can also grow distractions, habits, and desires that crowd it out.

If you grow spiritually lazy, those weeds become trees. And those trees become groves: standing beside, and then over, what should be a clear place of worship and surrender before God. That's how something once pure becomes something God can no longer work with. He calls that a reprobate mind: a heart that let the weeds take over.

The solution? You can prevent groves by not planting, and by removing, the seeds.

The Temple Layout and Your Heart

God commanded Israel in Deuteronomy not to plant groves near His altar. Why? Because groves were tied to idol worship, and God wanted nothing to compete with or block the view of His glory.

Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians that we are the temple of the living God. Just like the priests in the tabernacle could go before the mercy seat and stand in God's presence, you can too. Your spirit is like that holy place: where you bring things before God, turn them over to Him, and commune with Him. God's presence now fills His people everywhere. His habitation is built without hands.

The altar and mercy seat represent where we meet with God: where sacrifice, prayer, and mercy come together. Your spirit (your inner heart) is the inner place where that happens today.

So when God said not to plant groves near the altar, He was saying this: nothing unholy should be allowed to grow near that sacred place within you. No weeds, no seeds. And when your heart and mind are kept holy, what proceeds from your mouth will also be holy.

There are three main spiritual gateways you need to guard: your eyes, your ears, and your heart. Let's look at each one.

Guard Your Eyes: What You Watch and Read

David said he would set no wicked thing before his eyes. The eyes are gateways that lead directly into the heart and mind.

What you watch, scroll through, or read plants seeds: holy or unholy. Modern "groves" appear on screens: videos, shows, stories, and posts that are quietly training you. Jesus explained that the light of the body is the eye. Job said he made a covenant with his eyes to protect what entered his heart.

Here's the question you need to ask yourself: Would I watch this if the Lord were standing beside me in the place of prayer and communion?

If not, it doesn't belong anywhere near your heart.

Guard Your Ears: What You Listen To

Paul said faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. The ears are gates of faith. What you let in shapes what you believe.

The world is full of voices: lyrics, gossip, chatter, news and all of these can drown out God's whisper. Remember Elijah? He heard God in a still small voice while the prophets of Baal shouted in their groves. That is why Solomon wrote that you should incline your ear to God's sayings.

What voices are you giving the most airtime in your life? Be careful which ones fill your mind. Wrong sounds can stir wrong desires and crowd out God's peace.

Guard Your Mind: What You Desire

The heart and thoughts are the soil that surrounds that inner meeting place with God. Every imagination grows something: either goodness or pride. John warned that "all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world." This is where the pride of life begins, when you start thinking you can serve God and self together.

Scripture tells us to cast down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. We're also told in Romans to be transformed by the renewing of our mind, and in Philippians to think on whatever things are good, pure, lovely, and of good report.

What's taking root in your thought life? What fills the mind will soon show through the mouth.

Guard Your Mouth: What You Say

The mouth reveals what is within the heart and mind. Jesus said that out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. Peter cursed and then denied the Lord. James said that out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing, and that these things ought not to be.

Now, James isn't only talking about wishing evil on someone. Cursing also includes profane or degrading words. Paul wrote to "bless them which persecute you: bless, and curse not." Even the casual substitutes (those lighter words meant to sound harmless) come from the same polluted spring. Think about it: if you're told not to curse someone, does changing it to wishing they would die and end up in "heck" make it better? The word might be different, but the heart behind it hasn't changed.

Think about those slang words. They come from the same root, the same history, the same intent as the words they replace. They've just been sanitized to sound acceptable in a new setting. But calling something by a different name doesn't make it different. It's still the same thing, just repackaged.

That's exactly how anything becomes a grove around the altar of your heart. We rename it, make it sound acceptable, convince ourselves it's harmless - but if it's rooted in something that competes with God, it's an idol. Anything that removes God from first place is a grove, no matter what we call it.

Paul said we should let no corrupt communication proceed out of our mouth. David prayed, "Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips."

If the inner place is holy, what flows out from it should be holy too. Blessing and cursing can't flow from the same clean heart.

God Is Still the Gardener

God told Israel, "Don't plant a grove near My altar." Not because He was afraid of trees, but because He wanted nothing to block the view of His glory.

Maybe some of you have things growing too close: habits, thoughts, conversations, compromises. Maybe you've realized while reading this that some weeds have become trees, and those trees are starting to form groves around the altar of your heart.

Here's the good news: God is still the Gardener. He still pulls up what doesn't belong. If you'll let Him, He'll clear around the altar of your heart so you can remain pleasing to Him and keep eternal life.

So what's your next step? Ask God to show you what needs to go. Maybe it's something you watch, something you listen to, a thought pattern you've been feeding, or words you've let become normal. Start with one area. Be honest with Him about what's grown too close.

He's ready to do the clearing work. The question is: are you ready to let Him?