RoundUp, SchmoundUp

When comest the Spring, with its new birth of life and growth and warming temperatures, the familiar battle begins once more. I like to call it "The War of the Roses…and Every Other Kind of Plant." This is the time of year when each day you look out upon your lawn and say, "Hmmm, not too much growth. I can wait another day before cutting grass." Then one morning you wake up and it seems your yard has expanded, gaining an intelligence of its own, working out ways to defeat you. That first step in your destruction is the initial blow to the gut, the depression that says, "This is going to be a long, hard day," as you pull the ripcord of the lawnmower.

At this most special of times, the temptation is always there: RoundUp. Green grass is beautiful in other lawns; brown grass is beautiful when you're the one taking care of it. I recently purchased some RoundUp in order to get rid of some brush and unwanted grass. I was also going to prepare a flower bed for the walkways and such, but I purchased the kind of RoundUp that not only kills all kinds of grass but also prevents new growth for four months. So the flower bed option was out. Still, there were other places to use the product: driveways, gravel lots, out-of-control brush. I put the RoundUp in the sprayer and began to spray, but not before reading the directions.

I was struck by some of the instructions. There will be a momentary pause while I go get the bottle so I can directly quote the appropriate passages.

Thanks for sticking around. With bottle in hand, I quote (or paraphrase as the case may be; I will be skipping around, because there's a deeper point here): kills and prevents all types of weeds and grasses…weeds begin to yellow and wilt within hours with complete kill in 1 to 2 weeks…WHERE NOT TO USE—DO NOT SPRAY plants and grasses you like because they may die too; DO NOT USE in lawns or for lawn renovation as it prevents desirable grasses from growing too; DO NOT USE for vegetable garden prep or in and around fruits and vegetables; DO NOT SPRAY around young plants or in an area that will be planted or seeded within four months…shield desirable plants from drift with a sheet of cardboard or plastic…If desirable plant is accidentally sprayed, rinse off immediately with water…for fastest results apply during warm, sunny weather…rain or watering 30 minutes after application will NOT wash away effectiveness.

So, those were the highlights of the instructions. Pretty self-explanatory, don't you think? Well, as I read these directions, I was struck at a possible spiritual application (pardon the pun). This RoundUp product is a great comparison to the effects of sin. Sin will kill every good and decent thing within us. Almost immediately it begins to take effect, dulling us and robbing us of all that gives life, and before too long complete kill occurs. I particularly liked the WHERE NOT TO USE section of the instructions. When we sin we believe that it's an isolated experience or incident and doesn't affect those areas of our life which we like. But when sin comes into our life, even those good things we want to keep are affected and we will lose them as well. Desirable things cannot grow in this environment; sin kills what we have and stops things we want. We are to produce spiritual fruit, we are to provide spiritual and emotional nourishment to others, but sin keeps this from happening as well, poisoning the fruit of our life. And young Christians can be poisoned as well from the drift of our own experience. They see our example, they hear our words and follow our path, and they too are destroyed.

But there is hope. Once we realize that we have sinned, that we have made a mistake and stepped into the devil's trap, being sprayed with his venom, we can take steps to immediately rinse ourselves with the "water of life" which "is the Word of God," the only thing which will cleanse us. As for the remaining instructions for the RoundUp, we notice when fastest results can be seen. When you are going about your life, thinking all is well, things are going great, if we dive into sin the effects are immediate and devastating, perhaps even worse than at any other time. And if we don't get things taken care of as quickly as possible, the damage could be permanent, at least in this world.

One additional thing I noticed as I put the bottle down a moment ago. There was a money back consumer guarantee, promising a replacement or refund of the price is not completely satisfied. There are two ways to apply that spiritually. Satan is not going to give you a "money back guarantee" if you're not satisfied with sin. You're stuck with it. But it doesn't matter, because the product he's pushing works every time. It will destroy everything it touches. The other way to spiritually apply this by looking at it from God's point of view. Sometimes we make mistakes and by into something we don't fully grasp, and we want out. If we return to Him with our purchase (the sin in which we've engaged), and ask Him to forgive us and restore to us our relationship and joy and peace with Him, He will say to us, "The price was paid on Calvary. I have the Receipt sitting at My Right Hand." The Lord will restore to us all that was taken by our mistake, and that's a guarantee to live by, and even to die by.

So, the battle is on. One comes and goes with the seasons. The other is constant. In either case, we need to look at the instructions, see what can happen and what is possible, and confidently move forward. The battle with Satan has been won. The battle with my lawn is another story…

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