You should have seen this weed! This obnoxious growth was disguising itself within the holly tree.
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, one of the definitions of disguise means to furnish with a false appearance or an assumed identity. The last journal entry was Do you need to get rid of “weeds” in your life? . Later on in the day, I when I was pulling weeds from the landscape, I noticed one of those unwanted/sticky-type/with like a soft sandspur growing all over it type of plant protruding out of one of the holly trees. This was going to require much more than just my gloved-covered hand. This was a job for the steel bypass lopper. (Yea, I had to look up the name of the “weed shear thing”. Lopper is not in my normal vocabulary.)
I began trimming this weed and discovered the enormity of it. It had grown to be about seven feet tall, with over eight branches intertwining itself amongst the holly branches. Then, in order to make sure this unwanted weed was gone, I had to use the garden spade to dig it out.
This situation reminded me how Satan loves to disguise himself to entice us to do wrong. How many situations may appear to be good, but only come around to bite you later? Like my pastor mentioned in a recent sermon, “It’s like calling a rattlesnake a worm, but it will still bite.” Be alert.
Throughout the bible, you can discover a plethora of instances when someone or something was disguised to fool another or for selfish gain. It’s been happening since the beginning of time. Remember Eve being deceived by that sneaky snake? And he is still at it today. BEWARE!
I want to encourage you to continue to pull those unwanted “weeds” out of your life. Get down to the root of the problem and dig it out. Be aware of disguises.
Blessings to you and yours,
Stephanie
A few examples from scripture: (Whoever says the bible is boring…they’re crazy.)
But I fear that somehow your pure and undivided devotion to Christ will be corrupted, just as Eve was deceived by the cunning ways of the serpent. 2 Corinthians 11:3
The Lord God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it. But the Lord God warned him, “You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden—except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die.”…The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the Lord God had made. One day he asked the woman, “Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?”
“Of course we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,” the woman replied. “It’s only the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden that we are not allowed to eat. God said, ‘You must not eat it or even touch it; if you do, you will die.’”
“You won’t die!” the serpent replied to the woman. “God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.”… Then the Lord God asked the woman, “What have you done?”
“The serpent deceived me,” she replied. “That’s why I ate it.”
Then the Lord God said to the serpent,“Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all animals, domestic and wild. You will crawl on your belly, groveling in the dust as long as you live. And I will cause hostility between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring. He will strike your head, and you will strike his heel.” Genesis 2:15-17, 3:1-5, 13-15
These people are false apostles. They are deceitful workers who disguise themselves as apostles of Christ. But I am not surprised! Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. So it is no wonder that his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. In the end they will get the punishment their wicked deeds deserve. 2 Corinthians 11:13-15
Then she took Esau’s favorite clothes, which were there in the house, and gave them to her younger son, Jacob. She covered his arms and the smooth part of his neck with the skin of the young goats. Then she gave Jacob the delicious meal, including freshly baked bread. So Jacob took the food to his father. “My father?” he said.
“Yes, my son,” Isaac answered. “Who are you—Esau or Jacob?”
Jacob replied, “It’s Esau, your firstborn son. I’ve done as you told me. Here is the wild game. Now sit up and eat it so you can give me your blessing.”
Isaac asked, “How did you find it so quickly, my son?”
“The Lord your God put it in my path!” Jacob replied.
Then Isaac said to Jacob, “Come closer so I can touch you and make sure that you really are Esau.” So Jacob went closer to his father, and Isaac touched him. “The voice is Jacob’s, but the hands are Esau’s,” Isaac said. But he did not recognize Jacob, because Jacob’s hands felt hairy just like Esau’s. So Isaac prepared to bless Jacob. Genesis 27:15-23
“Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep but are really vicious wolves. You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act. Can you pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit. A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit. So every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire. Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions. Matthew 7:15-20
Genesis 38 NLT – Judah and Tamar – About this time, – Bible Gateway
Featured photo: The root of that enormously pesky weed.