When spring comes and the weather permits the gardening bug hits you. I started my garden way to early this year in my greenhouse. Before I knew it I had lots of vegetables and herbs coming up. My plan of course was to keep them in the greenhouse until the conditions were right for transplanting into the raised beds. While in the greenhouse my young plants were well protected from the elements and bothersome weeds. Needless to say many of my plants were outgrowing their small starter pots and needed to be transplanted into larger ones. As the weeks went by I planted more seeds and started basically a new crop of the same type vegetables plus some new ones. I was proud of my expectant garden soon to be. The care through the cold days and nights, the watering and pampering seem to be paying off. Soon I would be putting them into the outside garden area so the plants could be nourished by the sun and soil.
One day early in April we had some real nice weather and I decided to leave the heater off thinking the temperatures weren't going to drop low enough to do any harm. When I went out the next day I found some of my more sensitive plants looking real sad. They had that look of having been touched by freezing temperature's. My thoughts were to blame my plants for not holding out and not being tough enough and I blamed the weather person for not giving the proper warning. Needless to say I had to start over with these plants. Even though I had plenty of time to do this I was not happy with the delay it caused. Now that the weather has warmed up and for the most part the dangers of frost are past, I can now put my young plants into the raised beds with great expectations of a fine harvest in the fall.
Most of my plants seem to be doing well in their new home and growing like they should. Then I noticed some of the leaves have been eaten away, pests have entered my garden and are trying to destroy my future harvest. Also, I noticed that shiny streak going across the ground leading to some of my plants, now snails have found their way into my garden in search of more tender leaves to munch on. My once well protected garden has been invaded by some undesirables. I have decided that I will have to use some form of protection for my plants if I want to reap the harvest in the fall. So, some slug and snail bait will help and some insecticide soap will also prevent those leaf muncher's from eating my dinner salad.
Looking over my garden area I have noticed some weeds or unwanted foreign plants trying to make their way into my newly planted garden. What I thought was once going to be a beautiful garden is now starting to look a little disgusting because the weeds are growing wherever they like, robbing my new plants of nutrition and blocking the much needed sunlight. Now I must spend time pulling these weeds from around my plants hoping not to destroy their young roots. Seems this garden is becoming more work than I had expected. Maybe it would be easier just to let it do its own thing and hope for the best. Maybe I could still reap a few healthy vegetables and such over the course of the growing season by just letting it go. No, it is my garden and it is my responsibility to take care of it. I must feed my plants, protect them from those destructive pest and remove the unwanted weeds that are trying to take root in my garden. Yes, my garden has become a bit contaminated with some outside influences, but with more time and effort on my part I will remove the unwanted undesirables from my garden. No one else will do it, I must protect my garden if I want it to remain healthy and productive.
I remember when I was a lot younger and I had given my heart to Jesus Christ and accepted Him as My Lord and Savior. I acknowledged Him as the Son of God and put my faith in Him. What I was to learn over a period of time is that when I accepted Christ as my Savior I had planted the Word of God in my heart and mind. The seeds of His Word began to grow and take root changing my life for the better. Because I was young and did not fully understand everything about a life with Christ, some weeds had sprouted, weeds that took root and began to grow within me. The light of the Son was now being blocked out by these undesirable weeds in my garden, the garden God wanted to dwell in. There were some outside undesirable influences that began to eat away at the growth of my newly found faith and the the very Word of God was being overridden by these influences. I found it easier just to let my garden go and hope for the best without putting any real effort into maintaining and planting new seeds of His Word in the good ground of my soul. It did not take long before my garden didn't resemble a garden that had been cultivated, planted, watered and taken care of anymore. My garden, the place God desired to dwell had been neglected to the extent that the Word of God was being pushed aside. The Word of God was the very nourishment my garden needed and I neglected this much needed nourishment. Then one day I came to the realization that if my garden was to be healthy and productive, I, not someone else was going to have to start pulling the weeds and remove the roots so they could not flourish any longer. I, not someone else would have to get rid of those undesirable insects that were eating away at the new growth in my garden so that new plants or God's Word would be able to continue to produce its fruit. Yes, it has been hard at times to keep my garden area free from the weeds of sin and the influences of the world, but it has been worth it because God continues to plant new seeds of His Word in my life and as those seeds begin to grow and flourish so I can in turn, as they grow, share the harvest of God's garden in my life with many others.
How about your garden, is it weed free, have the insects of this world been repelled back by God's Word, Jesus Christ or have they been allowed to take root and feed from your garden replacing the good plants with weeds of destruction. God says in His Word that we are to care for what God has given us. Look at Genesis 1:26; Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground." Please pay attention to the word "reign" and consider what that means. We are to rule over, take care of the things that God has given us. God gave human beings the governing power over this earth. All this was done before God made the physical bodies for man to dwell in. He gave them, man, their marching orders and what they were responsible for. Lets move on to Genesis 2:7-9: Then God formed the man from the dust of the ground. He breathed the breath of life into the man's nostrils, and man became a living person. Then the Lord God planted a garden in Eden in the east, and there he placed the man he had made. The Lord God made all sorts of trees grow up from the ground, trees that were beautiful and that produced delicious fruit. In the middle of the garden He placed the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God has now planted a beautiful garden for man to dwell in. It is here that God would walk and talk with man. God would dwell with man in a perfect garden taken care of by the man He had created. Man's only responsibility was to take care of the garden and not allow the seeds of evil to enter it by not eating from the tree of "knowledge of good and evil." As we all understand the story, Adam and Eve both took their eyes off the garden and focused on the forbidden tree. Tricked by the serpent and deceived into thinking that they could do it their own way, man forsook his responsibility and allowed the weeds of rebellion to enter the very garden they were to protect and take care of.
God still desires to dwell with man, only He cannot dwell in a weed infested garden. So God the Father sent His only Son, Jesus Christ to provide a way for man to come back into relationship with their Creator, God. When we accept Christ as our Lord and Savior, acknowledge Him as God's only Son and ask God for forgiveness of our rebellion or sin, we come back into relationship with the Heavenly Father. The Holy Spirit was given to guide and counsel us on what we must do while we are here on this earth. It is our responsibility to begin removing the weeds by the roots that have taken hold of our life. The Holy Spirit will show us the weeds that need removing. Those destructive insects that eat away at our life must be destroyed also, or they will keep coming back and prevent us from having a fulfilled life that God intended for us to have. The fruits that we produce as we grow in Christ come from the nourishment of God's Word, provided by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and are to be shared with all those around us. There are two different kinds of fruit that we can produce in our lives. We cannot produce both at the same time. The plants that produce good fruit cannot produce anything but good, plants that are not good produce only fruit that is bad. Galatians 5:19-26 makes this very clear, take a look at these scriptures. "When you follow the desires of your sinful nature, the results are very clear: sexual immorality, impurity, lustful pleasures, idolatry, sorcery, hostility, quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambition, dissension, division, envy, drunkenness, wild parties, and other sins like these. Let me tell you again, as I have before, that anyone living that sort of life will not inherit the Kingdom of God." "But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!" "Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to His cross and crucified them there. Since we are living by the Spirit, let us follow the Spirit's leading in every part of our lives. Let us not become conceited, or provoke one another, or be jealous of one another."
So you see, we must stand guard for those weeds that try to enter our garden. We are born into a sinful nature and have no means of removing this nature in our own strength. This must be done by the Master Gardener, the Spirit of God. Our responsibility is to call upon the Master Gardener and begin the process of removing all those unwanted plants mentioned in the verse above, it won't get done unless we make that decision to get started and follow the instructions for proper gardening of our lives. Only by planting good plants in our garden can we produce the kind of fruit that is acceptable and worth sharing with our family, friends and neighbors. "Pay attention to your own work, for then you will get the satisfaction of a job well done, and you won't need to compare yourself to anyone else. For we are each responsible for our own conduct. Those who are taught the Word of God should provide for their teachers, sharing all good things with them. Don't be misled, you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. Those who live only to satisfy their own sinful nature will harvest decay and death from that sinful nature. But those who live to please the Spirit will harvest everlasting life from the Spirit. So let's not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don't give up. Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone, especially to those in the family of faith."
So here we have it, in your being your soul is a garden, it will either be planted with good things or bad things. You are the one who allows plants into your garden. You are the one who must decide how to maintain your garden. Does your garden have vices in it that is detrimental to the growth of good and productive plants? Look at this list of vices, some which were already mentioned, and judge for yourself what kind of fruit you are producing from your garden: Sexual immorality (Gal. 5:19), impurity (Gal. 5:19), Lust (Col. 3:5), Hostility (Gal. 5:20), Quarreling (Gal. 5:20), Jealousy (Gal. 5:20), Anger (Gal. 5:20), Selfish ambition (Gal. 5:20), Dissension (Gal. 5:20), Arrogance (2 Corith. 12:20), Envy (Gal. 5:21), Murder (Rev. 22:12-16), Idolatry (Gal. 5:20; Ephesians 5:5), Sorcery (Gal. 5:20), Drunkenness (Gal. 5:21), Wild Parties (Luke 15:13; Gal. 5:21), Cheating (1 Corith. 6:8), Adultery (1 Corith. 6:9, 10), Homosexuality (1 Corith. 6:9, 10), Greed (1 Corith. 6:9, 10; Eph. 5:5), Stealing (1 Corith. 6:9, 10), Lying (Rev. 22:12-26). There are many weeds the world offers us, it is our choice if we allow them to be planted and grow. No one is exempt from having some form of weed or weeds in their garden, our sin nature has determined this already. But it is up to us to have the seeds and roots removed by the Spirit of God from our garden if we expect God to dwell in it. Remember, we can only remove them as they are revealed to us by God's Spirit, but it still is our decision to ask God to remove them. As you have these weeds removed from your garden, God will replace them with His plants by placing seeds of His Word in your garden that will produce only good fruit. Again, look at the fruit of the Spirit; Love, joy, peace, patience, Kindness, Goodness, Faithfulness, Gentleness, Self-Control. (Gal. 5:22-23)
The way we continually live according to God's Word and have a productive garden in our lives is to follow a simple method. Christ said that we need to attach ourselves to the vine. Christ is the vine and we are the branches. Look this scripture up by clicking on the following link: John 15:1-17. How is your garden doing today? Do you need to do some weed pulling? Why not get started right now and allow the Holy Spirit to begin removing the bad things in your life and replace them with only good things? You hold the key to your garden, but you must open the gate and let the Master Gardener in, it's your choice in what kind of life you want for yourself. You decide what kind of fruit you want produced from your garden. I recommend highly the fruit of the Spirit, for you will not be dissatisfied with the harvest.
May God reveal to you the good fruit of His Spirit and replace the seeds of this world and remove the roots of undesirable weeds from your garden of life that dwells within you.
