Tending the Garden

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  Against such there is no law. Galatians 5:22  (NKJV)

There is much argument in churches around the world regarding true salvation.  Some say that faith is all you need.  Others say you must have works.  Still others say you must abide by the Ten Commandments.  God's Word says the above.  The problem we have is leaving out portions of Scripture, or twisting them to make them into what we want or feel we need, or simply refusing to see what it really says; a blindness if you will.  When teaching this verse to children, we use a song, which works wonders.  Children tend to learn things easily through music.  If you know the melody, you will have it going through your head as you read the words:

Oh the fruit of the Spirit's not a coconut,

The fruit of the Spirit's not a coconut,

If you wanna be a coconut you might as well hear it,

You can't be a fruit of the Spirit,

Cause the fruit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

We then go on to learn it's not a banana, watermelon, lemon, cherry, or grape either.  This is a great way to teach and I have used it many a time over.  The kids love the song and learn the fruit, but they need to hear and understand the rest of the verse - against such there is no law.  I confess that I have pointed this out to many a child, because I want them to understand that salvation comes through faith alone, yes, but the Fruit of the Spirit should then start being produced.  It is not something we can do ourselves any more than a plant can force ripe fruit upon its own branches or vines.  It needs nurturing, sunlight, watering, nutrients and every once in a while, a good pruning in order to produce the greatest amount, healthiest and most abundant fruit.  Not only that, but a big storm can come and blow off some of the fruit, knock the plant down, break it even.  In those cases it needs mending.  Someone must come along and pick up the fallen fruit, lift up the fallen plant and even tape the broken one.

Recently this happened to our tomato plants.  We plant them in five gallon buckets.  They were doing really well as usual, and we had had many a comment made and question asked regarding their growth and production.  One night a big storm came through with up to sixty mile per hour winds.   When Michael went to check the tomatoes the next morning, some were blown over which he up-righted.  The plants seemed fine, though a couple of small cherry tomatoes had fallen.  Then he saw that one of the plants had been broken way down low.  He could have chosen to throw the plant out, but instead took a chance and taped it back together, hoping he had gotten to it in time.  That was two weeks ago.  The plant is growing and producing fruit.  It couldn't have done it on its own though.  It needed the help of someone who cared.  Against that kind of caring, the Law wasn't needed.  To the gardener it simply made perfect sense to love the plant enough to try.

We, as Christians, have been given a garden of people made of earth (Genesis 2:7) as a garden to tend.  We are to plant seeds of faith in them, nurture them, water them with the word of God, bathe them in the Sonlight of His love flowing through us, pick them up when they are blown over and tape them back together when they are beaten and broken by the storms of life.  This is love and from it flows all the rest; joy, peace, patience and so on.  When we walk in the Fruit of the Spirit, we fulfill the very essence of the Law.

Father, we worry so much about whether we are meeting Your qualifications for salvation that we miss the very heartbeat of Your message - WALK IN LOVE!!  I admit that we do not know how on our own, but that is why You have so generously given us Your Holy Spirit to teach us and to live through us.  We just need to learn to step aside and let Him do His job in us and through us.  Help us begin to understand the full gist of what walking in faith really means - walking in love. When we walk in faith, love abounds. If we walk in love, faith automatically grows stronger.  One cannot exist without the other.  This is why it makes perfect sense to us, Your children to lift the broken and tape them back together in the hope that we are not too late.  Help us learn to be generous in continuing to tend the garden You've placed in our care.