All people cultivate something in the way they live their lives and make their choices. Some people cultivate love, friendship, respect and kindness. Others, as a result of neglect or unresolved issues, cultivate loneliness, disconnection, isolation and sometimes even hatred. In our relationship with God we can choose to cultivate good things or to let bad things grow. The writer of the Letter to the Hebrews says this in the sixth chapter:
Land which drinks up the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to the people for whom it is being cultivated, receives a blessing from God, but if it produces thorns and thistles, it is worthless and nearly cursed, and in the end will be burned.
A garden filled with flowers or vegetables or other desirable crops is normally the result of someone’s careful cultivation. It requires continuing effort over a sustained period of time. On the other hand, a garden filled with weeds, or with “thorns and thistles” is something that just grows by itself as a result of neglect on the part of the landowner. This is a great encouragement for followers of Jesus to keep a careful eye on the relationships they are cultivating with other people and with God.