Nothing tastes as good to me out of a garden as a tomato that has just been picked. I remember when I was young and living at home in Illinois, my Dad had planted a garden with tomatoes, green onions, bell peppers, cucumbers and other things which I can’t remember. When I ate one of those delicious tomatoes from the garden that he had just picked, it tasted so good. I would slice it and put a little sugar on it. However, there is another garden that has fruit which tastes a lot better to me and that is the garden of a Christian’s heart that has all of the fruits of the Spirit operating in his or her heart.
Before I gave my heart and life to Jesus on August 14, 1980, the garden of my heart was filled with ugliness, bitterness, resentment, unforgiveness, hatred, criticism and sarcasm. There were no weeds growing because there wasn’t any good fruit to have weeds. Thank God for His mercy, grace, compassion, understanding, forgiveness and for His amazing unconditional love. On that wonderful day, He put His arms around me and lifted me up out of all the garbage of my life and planted a garden of love within my heart.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. Galatians 5:22-23 King James Version
What kind of fruit is growing in your heart today? Are they fruits of love and compassion or are they the weeds of discord and fighting? Have you allowed Jesus to prune your heart for weeds? Do you have the fruits of the Spirit operating in your heart or have you allowed the temptations and lusts of the world and satan to fill it with weeds of dishonesty, unforgiveness, bitterness, jealousy, resentment, criticism, sarcasm and hatred?
Our hearts are either filled with the fruits of the Spirit or they are filled with the weeds of satan. We are either operating in the fruits of the Spirit and giving unconditional love, forgiveness, understanding and compassion to our families, our loved ones and friends or we are giving them the weeds of hatred, unforgiveness, criticism and sarcasm that we have allowed satan to put there.
We must allow Jesus to do a daily, and sometimes an hourly and minute by minute, checkup of our hearts for the weeds that bring shame to Him. When people look at us and hear us talk, do they see Jesus in our smiles and hear His kindness and compassion in our conversations? What condition is the garden of your heart in right now? Does it bring joy and happiness to Jesus or does it bring Him sorrow and sadness?