Like many people, I have spent the last several days working outside at the house. We’ve been getting our vegetable garden ready, planting flowers and plants, and doing other things to prepare our yard for spring. I love seeing the new life that happens every spring. I also love that it coincides with Easter, which is the ultimate example of new life. We were reminded yesterday in Colossians 2:13-14 about our life in Christ: “And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.” For those who have trusted in the work of Jesus Christ on their behalf, are now alive in Him! This is such wonderful news. However, I think at times we need to be reminded of this. Much like the garden that needs to be tended each year, our lives need to be tended. After a while, the soil of our heart gets hard and the weeds of sin begin to grow in place of the spiritual fruit that should be there. Sometimes our life becomes overgrown due to all the things that are thrown our way, such as financial difficulties, relationship struggles, personal trials, grief and so much more. With all this, we sometimes feel that there isn’t much spiritual life within us.
However, when we are reminded that we are alive in Christ, it motivates us to tend the garden of our lives, so that God’s fruit can grow beautifully. We may need to pull the sin out of our life, much like we pull the weeds out of the garden. We may need to saturate our lives with God’s word, which is like putting nutrient-rich soil in our garden. It may be time to let God deal with these issues that are plaguing you, like a gardener who trims the bushes and prunes the trees. What areas in your life need tending? Do you have sin that is growing like a weed in your heart? Do you feel spiritually dry? In all these things, there is hope! Turn to the Lord and let Him work in your life like a master gardener tends his garden. There is no better time than today.