What Grows In Your Garden?

By Michael K. Farrar, O.D.

© God’s Breath Publications

 

“Mary, Mary, quite contrary.

How does your garden grow?

With silver bells and cockle shells,

and pretty maids all in a row.”

 

This childhood poem sounds rather silly if not strange. Most of our memories of gardens revolve around planting seeds in the fertile soil, watering the ground, letting the sunshine warm the earth so that the seeds will sprout. A few days or weeks later we see small green shoots that begin breaking the surface. Each day we observe growth as the plants head upward adding leaves to their stems or vines. A few weeks later the robust plants sprout blossoms that will produce the fruit or vegetables that we enjoy at our meals.

 

Usually we plant those vegetables or fruits in our garden that we desire the most when we eat a meal. Did you know, in a way, you have a spiritual garden that produces fruit depending on what is planted? We are instructed by God to produce spiritual fruit. In Luke 3:8 it says, “Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.” God is telling us in this passage of scripture that we are to produce fruit in our lives that result from our commitment to repent of our sins and accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior. Our new lives in Christ should produce fruit just like that of a garden.

 

But how can we produce fruit that can bring God glory and has eternal value? We do this by staying in fellowship with our Lord, obeying what He says in His Word and listening to the Holy Spirit that was given to us when we made our commitment to Him. In John 15:4-6 it says, “Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.’”

 

This verse basically sums it up. We cannot produce any spiritual fruit pleasing to God unless we continue to abide in Christ. If you cut a branch off of a plant in your garden it cannot in any way produce fruit. Similarly, if we fail to stay in fellowship with Christ our ability to produce fruit will be diminished or non-existent. We are totally dependent on Christ for our ability to produce spiritual fruit.

 

Luke 6:44-45 sheds some light on how fruit is produced. It says, “Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thorn bushes, or grapes from briers. The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.”

 

So what this passage tells us is that fruit is produced from the overflow of our hearts. It goes without saying, that if our heart, mind and soul are centered on loving God and serving Him, then the fruit produced will be precious, sweet and nourishing. In other words, such spiritual fruit is valuable to God because it brings Him the greatest glory. But this passage also mentions the fact that evil things stored in the heart can bring forth evil fruit.

 

Jerry Bridges in his book, “The Practice of Godliness” states, “Our minds are mental greenhouses where unlawful thoughts, once planted, are nurtured and watered before being transplanted into the real world of unlawful actions.” Jerry Bridges aligns himself with scripture and says that whenever evil thoughts are planted in our hearts, they will be nurtured and watered as they are entertained and will bring about sin in our lives if we continue to cultivate them. We need to take great care in what our thought life revolves around.

 

How often do we let evil thoughts and imaginations run wild simply because no one can see such thoughts? Do we not realize that unbridled sinful thoughts can manifest themselves in outward behavior as we let them grow in our mental garden or the garden of our heart? Do we have a little secret garden of evil growing in our heart hidden from everyone we mingle with? Do we cultivate these plants of sin thinking that as long as we restrict them to our thoughts it can’t hurt anyone? Do we forget that God sees not only all we do, but all that we think and store up in our heart? We need to guard our hearts and be careful what we plant in them. Solomon warned about guarding our hearts. He states in Proverbs 4:23, “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.” Out of our heart flows the river of our behavior and actions. We are in a spiritual battle and what we let take root in our heart and mind can manifest in our life. Our thought life is very important when dealing with the battle of self-control.

 

Romans 7:4-6 explains that when we accept Christ as our Savior our former way of life is tossed aside. The garden we plant in our heart after we become a Christian is totally different than the one we used to plant. Read what it says:

 

“So, my brothers, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit to God. For when we were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit for death. But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.”

  

Paul speaks here of us bearing fruit of death when we lived as a non-believer. Yes, we produced fruit as a non-Christian, but it was dead fruit, unproductive and useless fruit. This is because it came from fleshly efforts and from a spiritually dead heart. The fruit we are called to produce in the gardens of our hearts and minds as Christians is the fruit of the Spirit spoken of in Galatians.

 

Galatians 5:22-26

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.”

 

So as we submit to the Holy Spirit that lives in us as Christians and obey the Word that we study and meditate upon, we can bear the fruit of the Spirit. Such fruit is produced by God working in us with His power and purity. This fruit brings glory to God, blesses those we come in contact with and reflects our Savior in our behavior so others are attracted to the gospel of peace. Living in such a manner is a life worthy of our Lord. Colossians speaks of this in verses 10-12 of the first chapter. It says,

 

“And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.”

  

We are called to raise a harvest for our Heavenly Father. We are instructed to live by His Word so that the harvest of fruit that comes from the gardens of our hearts is a blessing to our Savior. May you plant the proper seeds in your hearts and minds so that your gardens will be bountiful examples of the fruit of the Spirit.

 

James 3:17-18

“But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness.”