Last week, we talked about planting our gardens by discussing the kinds of seeds we allow to be planted in our hearts. We discussed how not only is it important that our hearts contain the right kind of soil–good soil, willing and ready to receive the seeds that are planted in it–but how it’s also important to be discerning with the type of seeds we plant. Our hearts won’t discriminate between a good seed and a bad seed. Whatever we plant in the soil of our heart will eventually take root and grow and produce fruit. That’s wonderful when the seed we’ve planted is patience or when the seed we’ve planted is love, but what happens when the seed we planted was unforgiveness? Well, then instead of a wonderful lush bush full of good fruit, we’ve got ourselves a harvest of weeds. Today, I want to talk about pulling the weeds we find in our gardens.
If you’ve ever planted a garden, you know that weeds can appear at any time without notice. They seem to be everywhere at once. Weeds grow up around good plants and choke them. If you’ve ever mowed a lawn full of dandelions, you know that cutting the tops off of a weed doesn’t get rid of it. You have to dig deep and pull it up by the roots. It’s the same way in our spiritual gardens. If we don’t pull up those spiritual weeds by their roots, we will just be treating surface symptoms. Not only will our problems not go away, but they may even spread and grow just like those physical weeds spread and grow when you don’t get to the root of the matter.
What happens when we allow weeds to grow in the fertile soil of our hearts? Romans 8:6-8 talks about being spiritually minded (having good fruit growing) versus being carnally minded (having weeds growing). It says: “The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. 7 The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. 8 Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.” When our hearts are full of weeds, we are living in our flesh. That fleshly heart allows our minds to stay fleshly as well. We are planting the wrong seeds, and we are thinking on the wrong things so we are watering those seeds with our wrong thoughts. What grows is not the fruit of the Spirit that we are hoping will grow, but rather the fruit of a fleshly life. This verse tells us that if our hearts and minds are set on wordly things, we can’t please God!
The Bible talks about various “bad” fruits that can grow in our lives. Hebrews 12:15 says: “See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.” So we see that bitterness is a root or a weed that can grow in the gardens of our heart. Unforgiveness is another weed that grows in our hearts. Ephesians 4:31 lists some more weeds in our gardens: “Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice.” Basically, any thought or emotion or choice that goes against the Fruit of the Spirit or against the Word of God becomes a weed in the garden of our hearts. If we’re not careful to take care of those wrong thoughts and pull those weeds up by their roots, the good seed being spread by reading our Bible, listening to sermons, and seeking God will be choked out by the bad fruit in our hearts. That’s not the outcome we want!
So what do we do about weeds? Well, the first thing we can do is make sure that the seeds of weeds do not get planted in the soil of our heart. 2 Corinthians 10:5 says: “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” By taking every thought captive and making it obedient to Christ, we are grabbing those seeds before they are planted and asking ourselves whether they are good seeds or bad seeds. Remember, our heart’s soil does not discriminate between good seed and bad seed. That’s our job as the cultivator. The heart’s soil will grow whatever we allow to be planted there. If we aren’t taking our thoughts captive and instead we’re allowing negative thoughts to come in, we’re planting bad seed.
Philippians 4:6-7 gives us another way to tackle those weeds once we realize they’re growing in our hearts. In the Message translation it says: “Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.” Another word for displace is uproot. When we take our issues to God, Christ uproots those worries from our lives. In other words, we can turn to God and allow Him to uproot the weeds that are growing in the gardens of our hearts. It makes sense that the best way to tackle weeds is through prayer. After all, in the physical realm, we tackle weeds by getting down on our needs and pulling them out by the roots. In the spiritual realm, we tackle weeds the same way–down on our knees!
It’s time for us to take a good, long look at the state of our hearts. We can find out the state of our hearts by looking at our thoughts, our feelings, our behaviors, and our lives. Do we demonstrate the Fruit of the Spirit in our everyday lives? Are we meditating on God’s Word? Are we showing Jesus with our actions? If we aren’t, or if we could improve, we probably have a weed problem. So take a look at the thoughts you are thinking, take care to take those thoughts captive and to make sure only good seed gets planted and watered. As we continuously work with God to weed our gardens, we will gradually grow gardens ripe with the fruit of the Spirit.
A Beautiful Mess 