I hate gardening with a passion, though I do love to look at other people’s gardens. The reason I dislike gardening so much is fundamentally because I am lazy and it is hard work. Weeding is one job I particularly dislike, since weeds seem to grow so much more quickly and prolifically than the flowers I want to flourish, so this is a job which never seems to be done.

Sin in our lives is rather like weeds; it seems to flourish and grow more quickly than virtues, which require a lot of cultivation! It’s much easier to lose our tempers than it is to be patient. It’s much easier to hold on to grudges than it is to forgive. We live in a world where the weeds grow alongside the good seed (Matt 13:24-30), and we have to be diligent in rooting out attitudes and thoughts and actions which don’t conform to God’s Word.

Envy is another of those sins which poisons and corrodes us from within. Like greed and lust, it is characterised by an insatiable desire. It can be described as a sad or resentful covetousness towards the traits or possessions of someone else. It’s linked to covetousness, one of the things God warns about in the Ten Commandments (Ex 20:17, Deut 5:21), and leads to resentment, bitterness and meanness, all of which are far from the generosity and open-handedness which are characteristics of God (see 2 Cor 9:6-11).

Envious people are focussed on themselves and look at others without love. We need to refuse to compare ourselves to other people and rest secure in our identity as God’s children. Generosity and kindness are the characteristics we should be growing; envy and covetousness the weeds we need to dig out with diligence and determination.

Lust is another of the seven deadly sins which can easily ensnare our hearts. Lust is usually associated with sexual sins, though it is actually defined as an ‘intense desire’ for something, which can, of course, refer to other things (such as a lust for power or money, for example). Sexual sins are prevalent in our society, as they ever have been; what is perhaps more worrying nowadays is that so often, we do not even recognise these as sins. Instead, we talk of lust as simply fulfilling our desires and see little wrong in adultery, sleeping with different people or homosexual practices.

Lust has as its focus pleasing oneself, and it often leads to unwholesome actions to fulfil one’s desires with no regard to the consequences. Lust is about possession and greed, and is therefore the antithesis of love, which always looks to the needs of the other person above one’s own needs. The Christian faith is about selflessness and is marked by holy living (1 Thess 4:3-8; 2 Tim 1:9, Heb 12:14, 1 Pet 1:15-16). We need to guard our hearts (Prov 4:23), because Jesus made it clear that actions arise from our hearts (see Matt 5:27-30, Mark 7:21).

Over this Lenten period, we need to examine our hearts for lust. This can be seen in our thoughts, our speech and how we spend our time. Pornography is an increasing problem; we need to be ruthless in how we spend our time and on what we focus. The media constantly churns out justification for sexual sin and it can be hard to avoid images which tempt us, but we are urged to flee from anything that would trip us up (see 1 Tim 6:11, 2 Tim 2:22). This may well mean considering what Facebook images and videos we look at, what jokes we listen to and how we speak of other people. The Marquis de Sade, best known for his violent behaviour (sadism is named after him), said, “Lust is to the other passions what the nervous fluid is to life; it supports them all, lends strength to them all – ambition, cruelty, avarice, revenge, are all founded on lust.” Lust should have no part in our lives, for our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor 6:19-20) and we need to be holy, even as God is holy.

God does not change (Ps 55:19, Mal 3:6). This is tremendously reassuring to us. James reminds us that He is not like the shifting shadows, but is a reliable, generous, faithful God. (James 1:17) Heb 13:8 reminds us that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. We cna be secure even in an insecure, changing, volatile world because God remains the constant in all of life’s changes.

Matt Redman’s song ‘We Shall Not Be Shaken’ reminds us of who God is: ‘You never change, You never fail, You never fade…‘ God’s sovereignty, power and love remain unchanged, no matter how difficult our circumstances may seem to us. When everything is shaking, God remains unshaken (see Heb 12:28-29). It’s much easier to cope with the changes in life if we fix our focus on God, rather than the outside factors which change. Mother Theresa remins us that we are not called to be successful; we are called to be faithful. By fixing our eyes on God, we have an anchor point for life’s journey.

We had a difficult quiz tonight at the family service when we had to identify foods that had decayed over time. It’s surprising how different things look when they have deteriorated through time….

This…

… used to look like this:

Who could guess this…

… was actually a watermelon?

By the end, most of us were surprised we enjoyed eating any of these foods!

We also had a birthday to celebrate – another sign of changing times…

Tonight’s family service looked at the idea of times and seasons. Bob Dylan’s song ‘The Times, They Are A’Changin”, looks at changing circumstances, fortunes, political process, ways of doing things and a change of order; one thing is clear as we progress through life and that is that change is here to stay! Eccl 3:1-10 talks of times and seasons for every activity under the sun, and Rom 13:11 urges us to understand the present time.

In Greek, there are two words for time: chronos (from which we get our idea of chronology, or linear time, counted in seconds, minutes, hours and days etc.) and kairos, which has the idea of seasons and periods of time. We have to understand the seasons generally, not only in terms of weather, but how attitudes change and cultures alter so that we can be aware of what people corporately are thinking. We also need to understand times in relation to our personal lives. We all change and age; we all face different circumstances in life. Some seasons are good; some are difficult to bear. We can often find change daunting, not fitting into how we used to be, but also being afraid of what lies ahead.

Only God is changeless, however. We can be secure that our times are in His hands (Ps 31:15) and because of this, we can rest in Him when all around us is changing, because we know He will never change. His faithfulness, love and support are constant through the trial and the change, and we can be confident that whatever happens, He will walk us through the next season and help us in every way.

This morning, Stephen spoke about Communion, reminding us that when we take the bread and wine during a Holy Communion service, this is not simply a task or ritual we participate in, but a way of remembering Jesus and taking part in the life He provides. Jn 6 describes for us the feeding of the five thousand and how Jesus walked on water, but we see that many people were really only interested in Jesus because He had fed them! – ‘you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill.‘ (Jn 6:26) Eating is an essential part of life, and many of us spend a lot of time shopping, preparing food, eating it and clearing up after meals, but the food we buy may not last very long and we have to be aware of ‘use by’ dates and ‘best before’ dates. Like Willy Wonka’s ‘everlasting gobstopper’, however, Jesus offers us food that will last – everlasting bread. (Jn 6:27)

Jesus made it clear that He does not just give bread to feed us; He is the bread of life: ‘I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live for ever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.’ (Jn 6:51) The work God asks of us is to believe the One He has sent. At times, this may seem easy to do, but we need to be aware that believing in Jesus is not just a one-off event; it is a daily process through the ups and downs of life and we need faith to grow and not subside. Jesus satisfies us eternally and is able to grant us eternal life.