Several years ago, my son Josh helped me plant a garden in our backyard.  We thought we had done a good job organizing the rows neatly, but spring rains and my busy schedule interrupted our zeal to keep things tidy.  Before too long, I had plants growing haphazardly all over my garden.  When I finally went out to make sense of my mess, I discovered a hardy plant toward the back of my garden.  I wasn’t sure what I had planted there, but it looked so leafy and promising that I left it alone and waited for mid-summer to come and reveal what we had growing.  

By the end of July, it had become very apparent:  I had been carefully feeding and protecting a weed!  Like a thief, it sat innocently in the back of the garden, stealing water and nutrients from my tomatoes, peppers, and pumpkins!  Once I made my discovery, I yanked that weed right out and tossed it aside, feeling a little mocked by the strong, prickly stem that had tricked me in early June.  How had I finally come to realize my gardening error?  The absence of fruit. 

The Holy Spirit in the life of a Christian has promised to give us very specific fruit.  He even names the qualities of this fruit in Galatians 5:22 - 23, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.” 

When God is ruling our “garden,” He produces the fruit that He has promised to produce.  But sometimes we let fleshly plants grow instead.  At first, they look innocent and maybe even pretty.  They blend in with the rest of the garden, slowly siphoning away our energy, vision, and fellowship with Jesus, until we finally realize there is an unwanted plant with no good fruit.  Time to weed that out!

We may be cultivating an attitude of self-righteousness, revealed by an alarming lack of gentleness toward others who are struggling in sin. 

We may be growing bitter–that silent plant with long roots that suffocate from beneath the soil.  The absence of Holy Spirit love toward our enemies is the clue that we have a dangerous weed growing there. 

We may be growing a weed of fear, lurking beneath a confident exterior.  But the long anxious nights when peace cannot be found have a way of telling on us.  

Maybe we are intrigued with off-color jokes and entertainment. It’s such a common weed that it almost seems like it belongs in the garden of a Christian!  But it’s not the fruit of goodness that the Holy Spirit has promised.  

Does your garden need some weeding?  We have this promise in I John 1:9, “But if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sin, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”  Through the power of our Comforter, the Holy Spirit, we can have the victory that God wants us to have.  And then we will honor our Saviour with fruit that reflects His character!