Several summers back, we went to work with a beloved ministry in the northwest among some indian tribes with whom our family has partnered over many years. At this particular time, along with our daughter, we helped in the community garden.

We weeded and raked, readied the soil in some places and tended to the fences, water lines, and raised bed boxes in others. Our job was not to harvest; it was to cultivate and to come alongside others who did the same in readiness for the harvest.

Cultivate.

“To prepare; to raise, to grow.”

We see it in the preparation of soil to make it ready for planting, with full intention that whatever grows will be established, strong, and will yield a harvest.

We see it in the tending of gardens and fields and flowers as one keeps the weeds from choking out the anticipated beauty.

We see it in watering of the soil, feeding it with what is necessary to yield the fruit of one’s labors.

If the soil is good and the cultivation intentional, that which it produces will likely be rich and full.

As a tree planted by streams of living water, so is the man who “does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, or set foot on the path of sinners, or sit in the seat of mockers. But His delight is in the Law of the LORD and on His law He medidates day and night.” (Psalm 1:1-2)

That man or woman, the one who cultivates within their own life, is deliberate not only about what they do but about what they think, what they see, what they imagine, what they feel; they meditate on the Word of God not to gain mere facts or to simply be comforted, but to be empowered, equipped, prepared, ready to do battle against anything that would threaten to undo them or those around them…all for the glory of God and the strength of his or her relationship with Him.

He doesn’t just read it and walk away to do whatever he feels like doing.

He doesn’t just hear it and gain more knowledge but not apply it.

He doesn’t just look in a mirror and forget what he has seen, being a hearer of the word not a doer and thus deceiving himself. (James 1:23-24)

He doesn’t just know the truth and adjust it to fit his wants and desires rather than the other way around.

He thinks on it and acts on it.

He lives it.

He reads, he listens, and he allows the Holy Spirit to convict, apply, and equip him to stand.

He reads, he listens, and he allows the Holy Spirit to guard his heart and mind in Christ Jesus and not run after the things and/or the emotions that will cause him to be mesmerized by self and what he can see and feel more than the One who “rescued (him) from the dominion of darkness and brought (him) into the Kingdom of the Son He loves.” (Colossians 1:13)

He intentionally cultivates a love for and faithfulness to the LORD and so for and to every other relationship and area of his life.

And, lest someone be so blind to think I am only referring to “that man,” “that woman” can equally be a cultivator or a destroyer of the garden in which she is planted.

Just as a flower, garden, or plant left to itself, untended, may flourish, without intentional care such as watering in the dry seasons, keeping the weeds from choking it out because the one tending it doesn’t have the time or the desire to nurture it, it will likely be anemic if not choked and dead while still “appearing” to be alive.

So will our relationship with the LORD and others suffer when the weeds choke out the truths we know, when the dry seasons make us hungry for the things that won’t satisfy and that will actually destroy us.

But as with “a tree planted by streams of living water, that yields its fruit in season,” (Psalm 1:3) the one who cultivates his relationship with the LORD by being in and living out the truths in God’s Word according to the power of the Holy Spirit rather than being “carried along by every wind” of selfish desire, emotion, or philosophy, “will prosper in all he does.” (Psalm 1:3)

That one who cultivates will be found:

Yielding a harvest of righeousness.

Yielding trust in the LORD and in the relationsips where trust has been nurtured.

Yielding a deeper love for the LORD and others.

Yielding forgiveness for hurt.

And we see what comes from a garden not cultivated.

Unfruitfulness in every way.

Discipline and difficulties will come into the life of the believer.

Discipline and difficulties will not automatically “yield a harvest of righteousness” on its own. It will, however, yield that fruit for those who cultivate their relationship with Christ, for those who desire to put off their earthly nature, put on their new self being renewed day by day, and let the Word of Christ dwell richly in them, cultivating the soil of their lives, their hearts, and their minds. (Colossians 3:5,10,16)

Discipline and difficulties will yield that desired fruit for those “who have been trained by it.”

“No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.” Hebrews 12:11

It is God who calls us; it is He who plants us and waters our souls. But He has called us to be alert, “preparing our minds for action…setting our hope fully on the grace” (I Peter 1:13), to cultivating our hearts and minds.

Over and over we read that we are to “put off and put on,” “flee youthful passions (of all kind) and to pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart,” (2 Timothy 2:22) “work out (or walk out) our salvation with fear and trembling.” (Philippians 2:12)

We aren’t to come to faith in Christ and then determine what we will or will not do in light of His transforming grace and love-infused commands.

We are to cultivate our hearts and our relationships according to His character and commands for His glory, our great joy, and the delight of those with whom we live in “this garden.”

As Charles Spurgeon wrote: “Do we know ourselves to be new creatures in Christ Jesus? If you are what you always were, you are what I pray you may not always be! But if you are new, changed, transformed, or, to come back to the text, transplanted, then I trust you may continue to thrive according to the promise, ‘They that are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God.’ (Psalm 92:13) ‘That little garden walled around, chosen and made peculiar ground, That little spot enclosed by grace out of the world’s wild wilderness’ is not intended to be occupied by dead trees! If there is such in it He will come and say, “Cut it down! Why does it cumber the ground?” It is a living tree that He desires to have there. GRASP THE PROMISE! Those who are planted (cultivated from without and within) will flourish!” (“The Trees in God’s Courts” Charles Spurgeon)

And one more joy-filled declaration of intent from Spurgeon that has longed caused me to desire to cultivate – water, weed, tear out, and replant as needed – my own little garden, my own heart, my own tree:

“Oh, to have one’s soul under heavenly cultivation; no longer a wilderness, but a garden of the Lord! Walled around by grace, planted by instruction, visited by love, weeded by heavenly discipline, and guarded by divine power. One’s soul thus favored is prepared to yield fruit unto the glory of God.” (Charles Spurgeon)

Cultivate your life with me, my friend!

Prepare the soil of your minds, hearts, and lives to receive truth from the living water of the Word.

With strong determination, rip out the weeds choking out your faithfulness to God and so choking out your true joy, your true peace, your relationships.

Get out of the wilderness that you find, at times, desirous but that is robbing you of the very things for which you were created and for which you long.

Decide now to live in one garden rather than running between the old man or woman and the new.

I will alongside you!

Cultivate this life in Christ we have been called to and for which we are now equipped.

Be the tree planted by streams of living water!

Thrive and prosper with great joy!

And give the joy of a redeemed life to others!

“Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in a mirror, and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues in it—not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it—they will be blessed in what they do.” James 1:22-25

“Therefore, since you have been raised with Christ, strive for the things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.

Put to death, therefore, the components of your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming on the sons of disobedience. When you lived among them, you also used to walk in these ways. But now you must put aside all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.

Do not lie to one another, since you have taken off the old self with its practices, and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator...Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you… ” Colossians 3:1-10, 16