I enjoy gardening. Call my crazy, but sitting in the hot sun yanking crabgrass and Creeping Charlie from around my strawberries is actually fun for me. The feel of dirt between my toes is relaxing (okay, you can utter an ick for the reference to my toes now.) I enjoy tilling the dirt and letting my chickens chase after the tiller, greedily gobbling those grubs turned up by the tines. Watching your neat little rows of seed sprout, now that's satisfying. I'll admit that the weeding is work. Yes, you sweat. Yes, your back hurts if you're a glutton for punishment and you plant bush beans instead of pole beans. But along come winter when you're still eating vegetables, and tomato soup, and pumpkin bread and pie, all taken right from your own back yard, then is the payoff.

Often as I am working in my little pay-dirt plot, it occurs to me that the principles of gardening provide perfect parallels to spiritual principles. I guess that shouldn't surprise me. God uses a lot of agricultural illustrations in the Bible to teach us about spiritual truths. The mustard seed; the four soils; thorns being burned. History began in a garden with two trees. In fact, in Mark 4 And he said, "The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come. (Mark 4:26-29) Jesus tells his listeners that the Kingdom of God is like a man who planted seed in his garden. The man doesn't know exactly how everything works together to make the plants grow, but it does. So how is gardening like the Kingdom of God? What parallels can we draw between the two? That's what I hope to explore. I do think it's important to remember that I'm not trying to write this to draw great spiritual truths from my garden. God's Word is the final authority, and life and its circumstances have to be interpreted through its lens. I see the work of my garden as a great illustration of Spiritual truths God has already given us in His word.

So the plan is to periodically post a new lesson from my garden hereon this site. Check them out as they come along. As you read, I'll be referencing Bible verses quite frequently. If you wonder why, check out this article on why the Bible is so important. But when you see those references, just hover your mouse over them to see the whole verse. After all, the whole point of this exercise is to draw your attention to what God has said, not to my fiendishly clever musings. (Romans 10:17)Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ. So, let's dig in and get our hands dirty!

I recently returned from a week's vacation with the family. We had a wonderful time, but I came home to a garden that looked a bit different than the one I left. I had recently tilled and planted when we left. We also had a good bit of rain in that week. So by the time we returned, my garden was quite a bit greener. To be fair, my plants did grow a good deal, which accounts for much of the green. But interspersed among my tomatoes and cabbages are other greenies that I will soon have to contend with. We'll deal with more about weeds in the posts to come, but before we do, I want to point out one overarching fact about weeds. You may think that they have it in for you, that the annual meeting of the Weeds Local Union has as its top priority discovering ways to thwart your every effort to have a productive garden. But that fact is that weeds do serve a purpose. Now, we'll delve into why not every plant that you call a weed is actually bad, but for now let's suffice it to say that God in the Bible tells us a great and grand purpose for all those obnoxious plants. That is they remind us that the world we live in is broken. We thought for a while that our technology and pesticides and weed control measures would soon cure us of the difficulties of surviving on this earth, but every time we think we invent a great new weed control procedure or product, the weeds seem to be a step ahead of us. I think they send spies into our gardener's annual meetings to discover our countermeasures before we can implement them.

The first reference to what we call weeds in the Bible is in Genesis chapter 3. Adam, the man who as the covenant head of the human race was given dominion over the world to make the earth conform to his purposes and supply mankind's needs. Adam had the command to work the garden, to eat freely from every tree in the garden with one exception. He was not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 2:16-17)And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die. He was also warned of the consequences of breaking that prohibition. In the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die. Adam, fully knowing that it was breaking God's command, fully knowing the consequences, disobeyed his Creator, and sin has ruled ever since, leaving death and destruction in its trail. When confronting Adam with his transgression God pronounced the sentence of judgment upon him in Genesis 3:17-19 And to Adam he said, "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, 'You shall not eat of it,' cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return."

Because Adam sinned, the very ground is cursed. It brings forth thorns, and thistles. Weeds. Every weed I pull is a reminder to me that we have sinned against the God who created us. Every drop of sweat that pours from my forehead and soaks into the dirt is a testimony that we live in a broken world where life is hard and full of pains. The discomfort doesn't only come in the form of thorns and stickers and weeds, but in the death of loved ones, broken relationships, and painful circumstances. But as I garden, I am reminded that God told us if we ate the fruit we would die.

We did.

And we have died.

Every time I break God's commands, I participate with Adam in that awful crime. God says, Honor your father and your mother.(Exodus 20:12)Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you. Exod. 20:12 I have not always done so. God says, You shall not steal.(Exodus 20:15)You shall not steal. Ex. 20:15 I have stolen. God says, You shall not covet. (Exodus 20:17) You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's. Exod. 20:17 I have coveted what is not mine, and pined away at what I cannot have. So have you, if you'll be honest with yourself. And not just those, but the deep commands, like You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind, and with all your strength (Deuteronomy 6:5)You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. Deut. 6:5, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself.(Leviticus 19:18)You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD. Lev. 19:18-19 These show me just how deep my sin problem goes. When have I ever loved God that much? When have I ever given my neighbor the same level of attention and dedication that I give to myself?

Weeds and thorns get our attention to the fact that not all is right with the world. God's word tells us exactly what is wrong. We broke the world with our sin. And just as God told Adam that if he sinned, he would die, so also we are under the same judgment. All that waits for us is death. We experience that now as a sort of living death. Yes, we walk about and work and talk and eat and laugh, but we are separated from God, who is the source of all life. And we are so stuck in this living death that we don't even think about it. We have our moments where things are hard and we long for something better, but we don't really even know what 'life' looks like, because we are dead. So we toil along until we end. And then the full reality of our death hits us, because we have to stand before our Creator and answer for our crimes against him. (Hebrews 9:27).And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment. Heb. 9:27 Every thought, intention, action, and word that is contrary to His command will be examined. (Hebrew 4:13)And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account Heb. 4:13. Since we all fail the test (Romans 3:23)for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God Rom. 3:23 we all will be condemned in that moment. The sentence for our crimes is death (Romans 6:23)For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 3:23), which ultimately means that we will be sentenced to Hell, to know forever only the wrath of God.

However, God's word also gives us the good news that it will not stay broken forever. God has a plan to fix what we broke. You won't find this plan in your garden, however, but only in the Bible. We deserve God's judgment. But God does love us. (John 3:16)"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. Jn. 3:16 He sent His only Son, Jesus, to be born of a virgin and to live a life without sin so that He could die in our place. The death that we deserved was placed on him. (2 Corinthians 5:21)For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2 Cor. 5:21He was buried, and three days later rose from the dead. The resurrection was so important because it shows that Jesus death was sufficient to deal with our sins once and for all. Now the good news that Jesus died for our sins is going out all over the world.

How can you be forgiven? How can the benefits of Jesus death be applied to you? I'm glad you asked! You receive it by faith. That's it. Not very complicated, huh? There are no rituals, no ceremonies, no magic words. The Bible tells us simply, that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart man believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. (Romans 10:9-10)Because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. Rom. 10:9-10 Do you recognize that you have rebelled against God, and sinned against him, and that you deserve his judgement? Do you believe that Jesus did live a perfect life, and that when He died on the cross He died for your sin? Then call out to God and confess to Him your guilt, and your faith that His Son died for you, and ask Him to save you. He will! There is no sin which He cannot forgive, because there is no sin for which Jesus did not die.

If you have come to this point, can I encourage you to do two thing? First, get a bible and start reading it. Now that you have started this new life of faith in Jesus, you need to understand what God has said. So begin reading your Bible. Secondly, find a church which focuses on teaching the Bible. Sadly, not every organization that calls itself a church is all that concerned about doing so. If you are local, we'd love to have you come and worship with us. You are going to need a community of people to help you know what is next. That is why God created the church. Contact me, if you like, I'll help you any way I can.

So the next time you pull one of those obnoxious thistles, or cumbersome creeping charlies, remember they tell us that God put those weeds there to remind us about our sin against Him. But Jesus died for us.

Garden on.

How you know the difference between a weed and good plant? They're both green, they both grow, they both flower. Many weeds are even edible. My grandparents used to talk about dandelion salads, though these have gone out of vogue for the time being. I've been known to munch on the meaty leaves of young lambs-quarters. The difference can be even harder to tell when the plants first sprout, before they put on their mature leaves, but that is a whole other lesson! So what's the difference? One man answered the question this way If you grab the plant, tug, pull, strain, and finally rip the leaves off leaving the root securely in the ground, it is a weed. If you gently pull it, and it comes out of the ground root and all and it immediately begins to wilt, you know that it was one of your wife's prized flowers.

Of course, all you experienced Gardeners out there are saying, What's the difference!? Why, its easy to tell the difference between a Creeping Charlie and a Strawberry runner! Well, tell that to my 8 year old daughter who helped me weed our Strawberry patch. At first, she had to ask me about every plant she looked at. Is this a strawberry, Daddy? And why did she ask? Because she needed to have her powers of observation sharpened to notice the difference between the weed and the plant. Yes, they both put out a viney runner. Yes, they both have green leaves. Sure, there are broad similarities, as we said, but to the trained and observant eye, the plants are vastly different. Creeping Charlie has leaves that are rounded, and softly serrated, and grow all along the viney stem. Strawberries have elongated leaves with sharply serrated edges. The three leaves grow from a single stem which sprouts from the crown. But it took her some exercise. Now she's pulling weeds with the best of them and making sure that her favorite food plant is productive and healthy.

So enough about weeds. What do we want to say that relates to spiritual things? Spiritually mature decisions are often difficult to make. Satan makes his lies look as much like the truth as he possibly can, so that only those who are paying close attention and who have been trained by the God of Truth can tell the difference between the two.

About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. Hebrews 5:11-14

The writer of Hebrews is actually rebuking his audience because they could not discern good from evil. He wanted to give them more, but like a baby who can only drink milk, they could not handle it. Just a few verses earlier, in the end of Hebrews 4, he tells them what gives them an ability to discern Good from Evil:

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Hebrews 4:12

God's Word has the ability discern our thoughts and intentions, whether they are good or evil. King Solomon, when the LORD appeared to him in a vision to grant his prayer, asked the LORD for wisdom, saying,

Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may discern between good and evil, for who is able to govern this your great people? 1 Kings 3:9

He wants understanding to be able to discern between what is good and what is evil so that he can lead God's people. Solomon knew that the ability to discern between spiritual weeds and spiritually fruitful plants could only come from the LORD God. He even tells us in his opus work, the book of Proverbs,

For the LORD gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding; he stores up sound wisdom for the upright; he is a shield to those who walk in integrity, guarding the paths of justice and watching over the way of his saints. Then you will understand righteousness and justice and equity, every good path; for wisdom will come into your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul; discretion will watch over you, understanding will guard you, delivering you from the way of evil, from men of perverted speech, who forsake the paths of uprightness to walk in the ways of darkness. Proverbs. 2:6-13

Who gives wisdom? The LORD does. Knowledge of right and wrong, understanding of good and evil, is a gift from Him, and it results in being able to be discerning, to keep you from the way of evil, perverted speech, and the paths of darkness. And being able to tell the difference between right and wrong is not a matter that we can leave to our own intuition or feelings. God gave us clear instruction for the issues of life in the Bible. It tells us what is right and wrong. If we want our relationship with our Father God to be good, we have to follow His instructions. Now, let me clarify that doing what is right in one instance never makes up for a wrong committed in another. Every sin deserves death (Romans 6:23) For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. and no amount of doing good can cover your sins. Only Jesus can do that through His perfect life and His death in our place, and the resurrection proves it! But then, if you read the post on the purpose of weeds, you know that. So we are not talking about discerning between good and bad as a way to have your sins forgiven. We are talking about your day to day obedience to the Lord.

So, when examining your own life, how well trained is your eye? Can you tell the difference between Biblical Love and infatuation? Because on the surface they look very much the same. Can you discern between Biblical Grace and enabling the sinner? What makes the difference between being sorry and biblical repentance? Can you see what is different between relevance and true evangelism? Is there a difference between loving my kids and just giving what they want? The Biblical Spiritual life requires a great deal of discernment. Read God's Word. Study it. Pray for understanding from the Spirit of God. Your ability to discern good from bad will grow, and you'll be able to tell the difference between the Fruit bearing plants, and the weeds.

Every gardener's dream is a weed- free garden. No dandelions, no crab grass, no oxalis. Just good old fruit producing plants. We talked about discernment in the last article. Knowing the difference between different plants is also important for weed control. Take this fellow to your right, for instance. It's your basic run of the mill crab grass. How do you deal with it? Gather all its leaves between your fingers, and firmly pull. You should get something like this.

The root mass is a glob of fibrous strings that pull out relatively easy. That plant is dead, and you can move on.

This plant however, (pictured here crowding my baby asparagus, eh, asparagae, or is it asparaguses? ) is a distant cousin of the crab grass, the cousin that even the other members of the grass family are not thrilled to see at the family reunion. I have heard it called quack grass, and joint grass, but its technical name is painus inthebutticus. No joke. Well, that will be its name once the American Horticulturalists Association approves my recommendation. It's in the bag. But back to the grass.

If you assume that this little guy is like his cousin Crab grass, you will grab the few leaves, firmly pull, and they will come out of the ground leaving your dirt looking ever so clean. That's because this weed is deceitful. It actually forms a joint just below the ground so that the leaf can be pulled out leaving the root undisturbed and ready to grow a new leaf once you walk away. Almost immediately. Tomorrow, you'll have another one.

Here's what is lurking under the dirt. Pretty gruesome,eh? No wonder that plant can grow back so quickly with a support system like that hiding underground! Now, if you can't distinguish between this weed and others,you won't know how to root it out.

Weeds are hassles, and unless you pull the whole root and kill that thing, its going to come back. Sure it feels good to grab ahold of that giant Dandelion, yank it and stand victorious with a clump of dark green leaves in your hand. "Ahah!" you shout. "I have vanquished my foe!" You throw the shattered remnants of it into the compost pile chuckling with delight, until you see that great white spot in the dirt where the plant used to be. "What's that?" You ask. It's the root, and sure as the sun will rise tomorrow, so will that stupid dandelion, because its source of life is still there: it's root.

Christians are not sinless. Just ask any non-church-goer. The main reason they don't come to church is that there are too many hypocrites. Of course there are! Christians aren't sinless. It's a good thing our eternal relationship to God is restored through faith in Jesus Christ, not based on our good deeds. (Romans 3:24)Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: (Ephesians 2:8)For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.. But after we put our faith in Christ, we should be living lives of increasing godliness and obedience to God's commands. Paul speaks of this in Colossians 3:5-8:

Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth.

These weeds remain in us even after we put our faith in Christ. The roots of sin go deep within us. Jeremiah 17:9 says, The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. Who can know it? We are not people who have occasional poor judgment in our decision making. We are all-together corrupt when it comes to doing what is right in God's sight. Apart from Jesus Christ, we are hopelessly unable to do good. (Romans 3:10-18)as it is written: "None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one. Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive. The venom of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes. Oh, we do some things at times that look good, but they are really not good. (Isaiah 64:6)We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.. Before you came to faith in Christ, there was no chance of clearing the weeds. Now, through the Holy Spirit's work of sanctification, and giving you understanding into the Bible you are able to see the weeds for what they are, and begin to clear the garden of weeds and make way for fruit bearing plants.

In seeking to clear the garden of weeds we need to be meticulous. If we only pull the leaves and stem, the root will remain and in a short time the weed will be back. If we make only superficial changes to the behavior, then the root of the problem is still growing in us, and will only manifest itself in some other area of our lives.

Over-eating can be stopped, but if you never deal with the root problem of handling stress or fear through your eating instead depending upon the LORD to handle those things (1 Peter 5:7) casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. then the problem will grow back, usually worse than before. Playing video games all day instead of going to work is only a symptom of the root problem of not viewing work as gift from God, and worshipping your leisure rather than God. (Ecclesiastes 5:19) Everyone also to whom God has given wealth and possessions and power to enjoy them, and to accept his lot and rejoice in his toil: this is the gift of God.

This sin in pornography is not the image itself, but the lustful heart that is fed by the picture. It is the heart of a person who refuses to submit his passions to God's standards, that sexuality is a gift to be enjoyed only in the context of marriage. A person may stop looking at lewd images on the internet, but then go to the mall and bask in his lust just as much by watching people walk by. The root sin is the same. (Matthew 5:28) But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart. And until a person is willing to tear the soil up and rip the root of lustful thinking out, there will be no change. The leaves may grow back in a different place, looking a little different on the surface, but the problem is still there.

A person may say they are sorry for hurting your feelings if confronted about gossiping in the workplace, but that it just pulling the leaf from the weed. The root of self-love is still there, and is manifesting itself through a desire to be in-the-know. Repent of that, and ask God to replace it with a love for others, and only then will you see a change. (Philippians 2:3)Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Otherwise you will keep getting sucked back into the gossip sessions because finding yourself as the one who knows what is going on in other people's lives feeds your desire to be the center of attention.

Sin has to be KILLED. That's why Paul wrote put to death therefore what is earthly in you. (Colossians 3:5-10)Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Putting sin to death means full disclosure. The root has to be exposed. When you deal with sin in your life, are you dealing with it in totality, or are you simply changing behavior? When you sin, repent. Genuine repentance must consist of rightly identifying what you did wrong (Remember the importance of discernment?) and confession. That simply means you admit what you did wrong. In order to root out the sin, confession needs to be made to all who were wronged. That list will include your Father God, against whom all sin is ultimately committed (Psalm 51:4)Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, so that you may be justified in your words and blameless in your judgment. and it may likely include people as well. If you sin in action, repent before God, ask him for forgiveness, and then go to those whom you have sinned against. If you sin in thought, take it to the Lord alone.

If we truly want to be progressing towards a weed-free garden, we need to be ruthless in our treatments of the weeds of sin in our lives.

Sweat, sunburn, bug-bites, calloused fingers, aching muscles, and the knowledge that the whole process will repeat itself next week: This is the life of the gardener. Let's face it folks, it would sure be a whole lot easier to just let Del Monte do my vegetable growing for me. After all, I can buy a package of frozen peas for just couple of dollars. But it takes how many hours to grow that in the garden? Let's see, if I divide my profit by the number of hours I worked to get it, and carry my 1… Well, let's just say it's a federal crime to pay someone that low of an hourly wage.

But we gardeners know that you don't really do this for the money. That's why we don't mind the labor. But it is labor. First comes the garden plan. Whether it's written or mental, every gardener knows the layout of the garden he's going to plant. Then you start your seeds (if you're into that kind of thing.) Once the ground thaws, you have to till it all up. Then you get to plant. Some of you out there are hard-core and have planters. I'm a bit more Pa Engles, and I just walk with my hoe and plunge the handle into the ground and drop in a few seeds, or use my fingers. So my rows of pop-corn aren't that straight. Don't you judge me. But either way, that takes a while. Once your seeds are in there comes the weeding, and the hoeing. Then there's more weeding and hoeing. Then more. Then you get to harvest, which, while enjoyable in that you get to experience the fruit of your labor, also means you just created scads of work for yourself, because now you have to can or freeze it!

Work,work, work.

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. Do all things without grumbling or questioning, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain.

Philippians 2:12-16 ESV

Paul addresses his beloved church with the message of obedience, and the labor-intensive nature of following Christ. Don't expect this to be easy. Don't expect that when you start following the Lord Jesus all your problems will go away and life will be all tip-toeing through the tulips (Do I have to give Tiny Tim a royalty for that phrase?) Purging the dead sin from our lives, the things that hinder us from serving Christ full-heartedly, is difficult and laborious. At times it is agonizing.

One of my favorite songs says, "Each time His purging cleanses deeper; I'm not sure that I'll survive." Learning God's word is mentally exhausting work, if you search it enough to actually know what it says. Applying it is even more. It takes effort on our part to deny ourselves what our sinful-self craves. Don't get me wrong, I'm not advocating a 'works-based righteousness.' If I ever grow even a spout it is by Grace. After all, "It's He that works in you, both to will and to do of His good pleasure." God gives me the desire. God gives me the will to choose it. God gives me the energy to accomplish it. But I still experience the fatigue of the labor. That's why immediately before the verse I just quoted, Paul says, "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.". It's not that I have to earn my salvation through my good works, but the salvation that God has already given me must be put into practice with work. That keeps me coming back to Him! Cut off part of the tomato vine and it will immediately begin to shrivel and die because its source of energy and life is gone. Any fruit on that vine will cease to grow. I'm the same. Unless I abide on the Vine (that's Jesus) I cannot bear any fruit.

But the point that I want to make is, that while it is by Grace, and God supplies all that is necessary for us to grow and bear fruit, the growth comes through a struggle of toil. Energy has to be exerted. Work has to be done. Sin has to be fought. The Race must be run.

Gardening is work, if you want to bear fruit. It's not always easy to get up and go to church (yes, the Pastor just said that!) Sometimes I'd rather sleep. It's not always easy to lead my family in worship. Sometimes I'd rather watch TV. It's not always easy to correct a fellow believer who is sinning. Sometimes I'd rather just let him do his own thing and not endure the temporary anger he has at me. But fruit comes through labor.

Garden On, and Grow in the Grace and Knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. (2 Pet. 3:18) But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.

Well, it's that time of the year again. Winter has finally receded, the soil is warm, and my freshly planted friends are beginning to show their faces in my freshly turned soil. First went in the sweet peas and spinach, kale, and radishes. Shortly after I planted onions, broccoli, cabbages, and carrots. I LOVE getting started on a new year, because each new year is an opportunity to start again. Whatever mistakes I made in the garden last year are gone. Of course, I understand the soil can be affected in the long term from mistakes last year, or pests left undealt with last year can overwinter and come back with renewed ferocity. But the winter gives you a break, and chance to formulate a whole new plan, with a new outlook on the whole garden.

Every year, before the ground is ready to work, I sit down, and with graph paper and pencil, I sketch out the relative size of my garden. I work to plan where my crops are going to be planted. I try to consider what was planted the year before, so that with rotation I can keep the soil healthy, and possibly avoid some pests. At least, that's the plan. Inevitably, the garden doesn't always go exactly according to plan, and throughout the year I make some changes. But that is the beauty of it. We learn. We make changes. Often, what I thought would work in my plan turns out to be a terrible idea. So next year the plan changes, because that year was a whole new start.

Even bitter failures can be tried again. I used to have some wonderful blueberry bushes in large pots. The pots allow me to keep the soil amended better than putting them in the ground. You may know that blueberries prefer acidic soil, and the ground where I live is very hard to keep acidic. Well, one year I thought to myself, "Self, I have not fertilized those blueberries since I planted them. They are not thin and gaunt. They are growing nicely, and though they are giving me delicious and plump berries, they must be hungry. I shall fertilize them. And since it has been so long since I planted them, they must be very hungry. Therefore, I shall give them a little more fertilizer than the package says to use. Because what could the manufacturers know about fertilizing?"

Now, at this point, you experienced master gardeners are saying, "Ooooooo. Bad idea." Yes, indeed it was a very bad idea. Within days of fertilizing them, or should I say, over-fertilizing them, the plants were not looking good. The nice plump berries shriveled and dried, and the lush green leaves began to wilt. Those lovely bushes died. Now, that was a whopper of a mistake, from which I learned much. But, every year since then I have tried to plant blue-berries, and every year I have had the same result: dead bushes. I have learned much about blue-berries in the process. So, this spring I planted another couple of bushes. They are growing! The point is this: I have made many mistakes, and killed multiple bushes. But this was a new year, and after a winter of discouragement in blueberry growing, I was willing to give it another go, taking into battle all the armament of information that I have learned over the last few years about caring for blue-berries. It was a new year, with new chances and fresh starts.

Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall!

My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me.

But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:

The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end;

they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

- Lamentations 3:19-23 ESV

Now, here is Jeremiah the prophet, watching in dismay as his beloved Jerusalem is destroyed by the Babylonians. It was a rough time in his life. That's why he says to God, 'Remember my affliction, and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall!' He describes his life at the time as affliction and wander. Wormwood is a poison. Gall is bitter. All of these very poetic descriptions tell us how brutal life was for him at the time. Then he continues, 'My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me.' It was the period in his life when he problems would not stop, and he could not escape them. It was weighing on him so heavily that his soul 'was bowed down within me.' We might say 'depressed' today.

Sometimes in life we do face troubles, and anxieties. Some of them are of our own making. They are the weeds which we planted in our own garden. At the time, we thought it would be a great idea to blow that dandelion fuzz into the wind, and only later did we discover just how terrible the consequences would be, and how much work it would be to constantly have to remove those stupid things from that little patch of ground.

But that is where Jeremiah comes to the next few verses. Though he is bowed down with grief, vs. 21 says, 'But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases. His mercies never come to an end. They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness, O Lord!' What was it that gave him hope? Please notice that it was not that circumstances were going to get better. Jerusalem was going to remain in ruins for seventy years. The mistakes I have made in my garden in previous years may have consequences that continue into the future. I will have dandelions and crab-grass and other little weedy beasts growing in there for some time. I'll never really be free of them. Years ago an ash tree grew a few yards away from the garden. I still have these little saplings sprouting up amid my strawberries. And it wasn't my tree! It was the previous gardener's. What's the point? Some of the difficulties we face in life are our fault. It stems from bad decisions we made. Others are someone else's fault, stemming from bad decisions someone else made. But the hope that Jeremiah realized, and that we can realize, is that God's mercies, His tender compassions to us, His loving-kindness are new every morning. That, they are never diminished in their supply. They are never exhausted. Each new day brings an ever-fresh flow of God's steadfast love to His people. That is what enables me to deal with my garden, or my life, as it is.

Sure, I should be learning to do it better. Sure, I may try to amend the soil to make the plants produce better. Sure, I will continue to make a garden plan each spring to try to improve on what I have done. But past mistakes in gardening, or in life, never overcome God's amazing supply of Grace through Jesus Christ. Those seeds keep sprouting year after year when I plant them because God is good and faithful.

So, maybe you've encountered the horrible winter period in your life. You're facing the consequences of many bad decisions both by yourself and by others, and they are bowing you under the constant weight of anxiety and discouragement. Can I just show you this picture? I planted this pea this spring, and it sprouted. That little new plant popped out of the ground as a reminder that God is Good, and each new year He makes the garden grow. Each new season of life, each new day, His mercies towards those who trust Him is renewed.

Trust him. Draw your strength from Him, not from your circumstances.

And garden on.

June is usually a busy time for me and my family. We had several friends and family visit. I had two work-related trips out of state. We had nearly a straight week of rain, followed by HOT and HUMID. You know, the kind of weather that we all love to stay indoors for, but which plants LOVE. I think the field of corn behind our house grew and average of 18.2 inches per day. And that's an accurate number. I know, because I just made it up.

That busy-ness and the long period of rain made for a difficult time where I did not get to go into my garden. Thankfully, just before the period began I had managed to thoroughly weed my garden. It looked great. But then came the rain. Then the heat. I expected weeds to grow in that environment. That's no surprise. But what came as a shock was which weeds were growing. Now, I know that the point I'm going to make will come as no surprise to any experienced gardener out there. Really, only an idiot needs to be told what I am going to tell you, and only a bigger idiot would think it worth saying in the first place! But, I happen to be such an idiot. So here goes.

When I went through and weeded my garden, I was careful to pull those delightful little pests out by the root. I cast them into great heaping piles, confident that they would never grow again, having been ripped from the comfort of their warm and moist soil home. Dryness and dearth would be their existence for a few days until they succumbed to the scorching summer sun and rotted back into the soil from whence they sprang. But then, as I finished another relaxing and immensely satisfying day of weed control, I left those piles where they were. Some in the pumpkin patch, some amongst the corn, others along the raised bed where I grow all my garden veggies.

Purslane, Black Medick, crab-grasses, and quack-grasses all lay vanquished. At least, that is what I thought. Then came our season of heavy rain. Then the hot and humid weather. So, when life calmed down a bit and I was able to get back to my garden, guess what I found? Not only had a new batch of weeds decided to come for a nice visit, but many of those weeds that I thought I had dealt with started growing right there in the piles where I left them! They began to take root again, and so I was forced to fight with them all over again.

Hence I say this is advice that only an idiot would give to another idiot. Who would leave their pulled leaves laying in piles in that garden? Only a great fool. Well, I am such a fool. But now I have seen the error of my ways. Granted, those piles were not nearly as entrenched as they had been, but I still had to spend a great deal of time pulling and raking them into new piles. This time I threw them away.

The lesson for this story? Don't leave your pulled weeds laying around the garden. They may well take root and begin to grow again.

Romans 13:12,The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Ephesians 4:22-32, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds,and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil. Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. Colossians 3:5-10,Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them. But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off 0the old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator. Hebrews 12:1-2,Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. James 1:21,Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. and 1 Peter 2:1 So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. all speak of the necessity of the Christian to 'put off' the old, sinful actions, motivations, and thoughts which ruled us before we put our faith in Jesus Christ. Let me quote the passage from Colossians.

Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.

On account of these the wrath of God is coming.

In these you too once walked, when you were living in them.

But now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and obscene talk from your mouth.

Do not lie to one another, seeing that you have put off the old self with its practices,

and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator.

The first command is to put to death the earthly things in us. Sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness are all things which not be in the Christians life, as are anger, wrath, malice, slander, obscenity, and lying. Just like we should be striving to keep our gardens free of purslane and crab-grass, we as followers of Christ should be striving to keep our lives free of these things. They are surefire markers that a life is not being lived in submission to Christ. Paul uses two very strong words to refer to our handling of these things. The first is put to death. Now, something that you want to put to death is not something you will treat gently and tenderly. They are things that you take seriously enough that when you see them you immediately attempt to destroy them. I WANT its life to end. I WANT its existence to be snuffed out, because I know that they represent a threat that cannot be toyed with. There is no such thing as a harmless infestation of quack-grass. A single growing blade of quack grass means several invasive roots growing under the ground. One little plantain will produce as many as 40,000 seeds if left to its own devices. If left alone, these will quickly take over the area and choke out the plants that I want growing there. In the same way, these sins represent a grave threat to the Christian life. They are life-dominating, and if they are left alone when first detected, they will quickly grow in to monstrous, wicked, and pernicious things which destroy you. So they must be put to death. No mercy. No remorse for their demise. Only death to them.

Now, this also means that I must know how to put it to death. I can stop on that purslane all day with my heavy work boots, but it will not kill it. I can even chop it to pieces with my hoe and walk away thinking I've been triumphant. But I must kill the root, or the leaves will spout back. That is where Paul uses another command in the passage we looked at. He says, put them all away. This command implies a deliberateness, and thoroughness which will yield the desired result.

This is where I failed. I pulled the weeds, because I know that's how you kill weeds. You don't stomp on them. You don't call them mean names until they whither. You don't stab them. Even shotgun is useless on weeds. That root must be pulled. Pull the root and the plant must die, being cut off from its source of nutrients and water. However, for the weeds in question, I was not very intentional about ensuring their demise. I left them lie on the ground, where they could absorb the abundant rains and slowly take root in the soft soil once again. If I had been deliberate, I would have cast them into my compost pile, where the hot summer sun and the action of bacteria decomposing the organic matter will produce temperatures that even the seeds of these pernicious pestilent plants cannot survive. That would have been intentionally putting them to death. But I was a bit lazy. I stopped short of ensuring they were good and finally dead.

In our following of Christ, we come to a point where we realize we have a problem with some area of obedience. Maybe it is in regards to our sexuality, whether in thought or in action, it does not matter. Our God has given us strict instructions for that area of life. Maybe it is in regards to covetousness. Maybe anger, malice, slander, or obscene talking. All of them are serious, and will dominate the life of the person who yields to them. (Romans 6:16).6 Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? Often when confronted with sins, we stop doing them because of the conviction we feel. But we leave them laying around just in case. We don't fully expel them from our existence, because we still crave them. We want to toy with them. Maybe we look over at the pile of weeds and think, "I know I shouldn't, but that pornography was enjoyable." Or, "it sure was fun talking to Mr. Smith about Mr. Johnson. It feels kinda good to hear someone else dislikes him as much as I do!" Or it may be something entirely different. You know what you're struggling with. Maybe the whole reason you are struggling is because you have not yet put it away. You dealt with it externally, but you've left the weed laying around so you can keep looking at it and admiring it when no one is looking. Guess what. It will take root again at some point. And you will be right back where you were, overrun with it.

Have you intentionally set it aside? Have you taken the necessary pains to ensure that it will die? Pulling the weed isn't enough. You have be devoted to its destruction. That's why Paul, in the beginning of Colossians chapter 3, begins with

If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things that are above, not on things that are on the earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

Successfully keeping your garden (You're still with me that gardening is a metaphor for the Christian life, right? Weeds = Sin. Fruitful plants = righteousness? If not, go back to this article.) means having a mindset that is bent of the destruction of the weed, and the fruitfulness of the plants. I work hard to ensure that the plants I chose to put there will be fruitful, and that necessarily means death and destruction to the plants I did not. Sometimes that means drastic changes. The drunkard who wants to submit to Christ may have to pick the long route home from work to avoid passing the bars on the way home. The man struggling with an adulterous relationship (whether in action, or thought does not matter) may have to quit the job where the other woman works in order to avoid the temptation. Sometimes sins may require moving to a new place to plant yourself in a situation where righteousness can grow, mature and bear fruit. Maybe getting rid of the TV and computer altogether is what it will take to break the cycle of pornography. Of course, planting a successful garden also demands that all that empty ground where the weeds were must be filled with productive plants. Paul notes that as well when he says, "Put on then…" and then lists what we SHOULD be doing. You have to replace the weeds with productive plants. Otherwise the weeds just come back. Fill your time with worshipful music, rather than the TV shows that tempt you. Fill your time with fellowship with other believers, rather than the former friends who constantly push you to do what Christ commands against. Does that sound unreasonable? Then you're not setting your mind on things above. You're not dedicated to the death and destruction of the weed.

Now, get out there, destroy those weeds, and garden on.

Alright, I'll admit it. There are some days that I just don't feel like going out there to pull those stupid weeds out. It's time I don't seem to have. It's work, and sometimes I just feel like loafing or watching TV. So there are maple trees growing in my strawberry patch. So what!? So I can barely tell where the dandelions end and the lettuce begins. Who cares!? After all, those plants can inhabit the same area for quite some time. It doesn't kill green beans immediately if a hog-weed pops up in the middle of them. So what is the point of all this diligence?

Well, it is true that oregano and black-medic can grow close to each other for quite a while with no seemingly negative effect. But here's the question to ask: Which of those two plants will thrive in those conditions? It's no secret that the trouble with weeds is they thrive without much work. That's what makes them so pesky. I don't have to till and water and prune my dandelions or plantains. They just grow whether I want them to or not. Now, my peas are another story. If I leave them grow on the ground, the peas will most likely rot before I can harvest them. I have to create an environment that lets them thrive. So I build a trellis they can climb and keep those oh-so-sweet-and-juicy pea pods off the ground. Don't you just love picking a fresh, sweet, crisp, sugar snap and eating it while you garden? So good.

Where was I? Oh, yes. Creating an environment for plants to thrive. Why do we till the soil so diligently? Because it helps our plants by allowing them to quickly put in large root systems without fighting packed soil. We are giving them an environment in which they can thrive. Black medic, on the other hand, LOVES hard, packed soil. That's why it pops up in the mid to late summer when the hot sun has baked and hard packed the soil. Why do we watch the moisture of our garden soil? Why do we check its nutrient content, and put in sand, or compost or manure, or any other amendment? We are trying to give our plants an environment in which they can thrive.

The weed will thrive in almost any environment. It doesn't need our help.

So, think of this. You can go years with a particular sin in your life, and think to yourself, "What's the big deal? I've been doing this for years, and very little negative effect has come because of this issue. Why bother with it?" After all, we all have sin in our lives, just like we all have weeds sin our garden. Here's the deal. First, we know that no sin continues without bringing with it negative consequences.

Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.
For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.
And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.

- Galatians 6:7-9

Don't you love the gardening language in this verse? First of all, we cannot fool ourselves into thinking that spiritual weeds will NEVER have a deleterious effect on us. Sure, those lambs-quarters may be small and tender and sweet and good tasting now. Maybe they aren't killing off your beets just yet. But which one will thrive? Which one will get bigger? Have you ever seen a six foot tall lambs-quarter? I have. (Thankfully, it wasn't in my garden.) That's the kind of thing you don't want to run into in a dark alley. If I let those things grow they will eventually overshadow every other plant in my garden. I can't be deceived by its small tender appearance. That thing is wicked and pernicious! If create an environment in which lambs-quarters thrive, I will get thriving lambs-quarters. The same is true of all sin. That's why Paul, in the verse above, says, "the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption." It is inevitable that sin will lead to corruption, or destruction. James describes it for us,

But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.
Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.

- James 1:14-15

The process of sin is much like the process of weed growth. First we are enticed by our own desire. That's the seed being planted in the earth. Then that desire turns to actual sin. If I act on the desire, whether in ACTION or INTENTIONAL thought, then I have sinned, or transgressed the command. The seed has sprouted to a plant. If I don't pull it and kill then, it will continue to grow in me. How do I kill a spiritual weed? With repentance and confession. (1 John 1:9)If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. But if I think that the weed is small, and not harming the productive plants, what will happen? Which will thrive? The cabbage will continue to grow, but the weed grows faster. So how long will the cabbage overshadow the weed? Not long. Then all sense that the weed was no big deal will be lost. The destruction that sin always brings will begin to be seen. The weed will without a doubt overshadow the plant before long. Then the difference will be seen greatly. The plant will begin to flounder, while the weed will flourish. At this point my weed is much more noticeable. And with it comes a host of other problems. What if it matures to seed? Now I have a real problem, because some of those single, no big deal weeds can produce 40,000 or more seeds from a single plant. Now how do I feel about this little plant? Once those seeds take root, how easy will it be to keep my garden productive? I'll spend more and more time dealing with weeds, and less developing and cultivating good plants.

Is the analogy getting through? Weeds are easy to grow, and hard to kill off. Good plants are usually hard to grow in a fruitful way. They may grow, but not necessarily as fruitful as they could be. When I allow sin in my life, it will thrive will little effort, unlike the spiritual disciplines that will produce real fruit. Prayer, Bible study, Family Worship times, Church attendance, ministry to others, these all take work and effort and time. They will thrive and produce abundantly if I cultivate them. But spiritual weeds are easier to grow. They thrive with little effort. Then they kill off most of the productive plants near them.

So what kind of plant are you enabling to thrive?

Garden on.