05/15/2026
What's in our garden?
Spring is for gardens. Be they flower beds or vegetables...many of us are digging, mulching, hoeing, weeding, planting. Every gardener ponders their harvest prior to sowing. What are we planting...cucumbers, tomatoes, mint, green beans, strawberries, squash, or peppers? Every gardener sows in anticipation of some profitable harvest!
Principles of sowing and reaping apply in the spiritual realm as well. Seeking a desirable spiritual harvest from the early church in Galatia - inspired - the Apostle Paul wrote..."Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit, reap everlasting life." The declaration oozes accountability. Make no mistake about it - our Creator is serious about us living lives that please Him for His glory, the benefit of others, and for our own betterment. Are we sowing spiritual weeds through our "flesh", or instead, good "fruit" through God's Spirit who indwells His own?
His admonition is at once, both sobering and hopeful.
Every gardener is aware that they reap what they sow and therefore, sow accordingly. The Gardener of gardener seeks good fruit from the seeds of His Word He has sowed in our hearts.
Consider the profitable fruit of "sowing to the Spirit" - "love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control." The Holy Spirit, not self-reliance, is key to profitable fruit bearing. "Love, joy, peace, long suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control" are only possible through yielding to God in accordance with the principles and commands delineated in His Love Letter to us.
Conversely, if we sow to the flesh we can expect the undesirable weeds of "adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like.'' Such weeds can only be "pulled" through repentance, confession, and application of the precious sacrifice of our sinless Savior.
God's Spirit has been bequeathed to those who've received Christ by faith empowering them to produce spiritual fruit. Bountiful harvests result as His children obediently yielding to His inner promptings which are always consistent with Biblical teachings. Conversely the "flesh" is that insatiable inner force which opposes the rule of God in our inner man.
So what are we planting in our spiritual garden? If we sow to the flesh, we "will of the flesh reap corruption", but if, on the other hand, "(we) sow to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life." While not regenerated (born again) by means of our sowing, our spiritual harvest should manifest our having been regenerated.
So, what's in our garden? Let us...
.."Not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will, of the Spirit, reap everlasting life...and let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart."
