I decided to go to someone’s house today and work in their yard and do some landscaping. It was a long, hot, yet rewarding day. I was able to make some nice improvements in overall appearance with flowers, rocks, edging stones, as well as removing weeds, thorns, and dead branches. In the midst of this work I was hot and sweaty and was reminded of the account when God told Adam that because of the fall,
“the ground is cursed because of you. All your life you will struggle to scratch a living from it. It will grow thorns and thistles because of you…by the sweat of your brow will you have food to eat…” (see Gen.3:17-19)
I especially thought of this part about the “sweat of your brow” as I had sweat burning my eyes as it dripped off my forehead. So why was this curse upon the ground and man? In the simplest terms… messing with God’s landscape. It was disobedience, yes, as well as wanting our own “godship.” But it was a result of partaking from landscape that was not to be eaten.
I started thinking about how Adam was supposed to “tend and watch the garden” (see Gen.2:15). Perhaps he was to watch and guard from things like the serpent that crept in and deceived his wife (2 Cor.11:3). Instead of being on guard, he was eating forbidden fruit which put him and his wife in a jam (cheesy joke, I know). Regardless, there is a lesson here, as we will look at throughout this article.
Tending To Our Own Gardens
God’s word makes many parallels between us and landscaping or agricultural terms and metaphors. Just as Adam was to watch and tend the garden, so we must watch and tend (guard) our garden (hearts). Both Jesus and Paul refer to the human heart as soil in which seeds are planted. As for the yard I was working in, it was by no means the worst yard but it had its issues. I looked around at other yards and was thinking about all the issues you can have with landscaping if not properly maintained and ensuring good upkeep.
It is the same principal spiritually speaking. It does not matter what other yards (people) look like on the surface. You have to sometimes look past the flowers and pretty decor (that which is external and superficial on people) and dig deep into the soil of their hearts. For the heart of the man reflects the man. My prayer is that we may be a people that by, and with, the help of the Holy Spirit we will upkeep our landscaping (hearts and lives) with diligence. Perhaps, this is why we are told in Scripture to “guard our heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.” Interestingly enough, Hosea even deals with this issue of landscape. We read as follows:
I said, ‘Plant the good seeds of righteousness, and you will harvest a crop of love. Plow up the hard ground of your hearts, for now is the time to seek the Lord, that he may come and shower righteousness upon you.’ “But you have cultivated wickedness and harvested a thriving crop of sins. You have eaten the fruit of lies…” Hosea 10:12-13
I started meditating on this passage and asked myself–as I would encourage each of you to do;
- What seeds am I planting or allowing others to plant in my soil (heart)?
- What concepts, ways of thinking, attitudes, actions, am I producing?
- Your seeds will become evident in your fruit (actions). Jesus said: …
You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act…Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions. (see Matt.7:15-20)
You may already be familiar with Jesus’ parable about the farmer scattering seed, but I would like to highlight a few things in that story and how they relate to us and the issue of spiritual landscaping. Jesus’ story about a farmer scattering seed is a natural picture of a spiritual reality. The farmer–Jesus, or anyone who speaks in his name–scatters the seed (the message about the kingdom of God) on different soils (conditions of human hearts) and each soil has a different response, depending on the condition upon receiving the word. The different landscape was as follows:
- A footpath–those who hear the message about the kingdom and don’t understand it. Then the evil one comes and snatches the seed planted in their hearts.
- Shallow soil with underlying rock–those who hear the message and immediately receive it with joy. But without roots, they don’t last long and fall away as soon as trouble comes from believing the message.
- Thorny ground--those who hear the message but it is quickly crowded out by the worries of this life and the lure of wealth, so no fruit is produced.
- Fertile–those who truly hear and understand and produce a harvest.
As we look at each of these it should make us aware (even as believers) to keep our soil (hearts) properly maintained by the Holy Spirit) and not let poor landscaping corrupt our garden (life). I believe this is why James tells us:
“So get rid of all filth and evil in your lives, and humbly accept the word God has planted in your hearts, for it has power to save your souls.” James 1:21, NLT
Do You Need a Good Pruning?
I believe that in today’s day and age, the biggest issue facing the Church in regards to what hinders fruitfulness is thorns, the worries of this life and the lure of wealth. Both of these issues flood people’s hearts especially here in America where “bigger is better” in regards to everything of this world. Before we know it, God’s word is crowded out by our worldly pursuits (Jas.1:9-11). Of course to be fruitful for Jesus is to remain in Jesus.
In the title of this article I asked if your landscaping is being properly maintained? However, I would like to clarify who the Gardener is. We do have a responsibility to “keep watch and guard” but only second to the master Gardener. Jesus tells us that he is the true grapevine, and his Father is the gardener (see Jn.15). In this teaching on the vine and the branches, Jesus tells us that God (the gardener) will prune branches (believers) that do bear fruit so that they will be even more fruitful. It is for this reason that God will continually be cutting things out of and off of us. May we be open and receptive to the pruning of God so that we may be fruitful for him and his kingdom. It comes down to reliance on God and his ways or man and his ways.
Jeremiah expounds briefly on some landscaping issues as well. He tells us that those who put their trust in man and human strength and turn away from the Lord are like stunted shrubs in the desert, with no hope for the future. They will live in the barren wilderness, in an uninhabited salty land. This sounds to me like some bad unhealthy landscape. However, those who trust in the Lord are blessed. Those who have made the Lord their hope and confidence are described by the following healthy and whole landscape design…
They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit (see Jer.17:5-8).
That is a good description of two completely different landscapes. Which one describes you? I would like to close out this article with the admonition and prayer of Paul for the Colossians:
“This same Good News that came to you is going out all over the world. It is bearing fruit everywhere by changing lives, just as it changed your lives from the day you first heard and understood the truth about God’s wonderful grace…
So we have not stopped praying for you since we first heard about you. We ask God to give you complete knowledge of his will and to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding. Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit. All the while, you will grow as you learn to know God better and better. ” (Col 1:6,9,10 NLT)
