"I am the true vine, and My Father is the husbandman" (Jn. 15:1).

All good gardeners must have a plan if they are going to have a beautiful, flourishing garden; and so it was with our God.

Many, many, years ago God planted a garden in Eden, and put man in it to dress it and keep it (Gen. 2:8, 15).   But man sinned by disobeying God and became a sinner.  Because he did, God cursed the ground for his sake, and thorns and thistles sprung up.

The Lord God then drove the man out from the garden of Eden to till the ground from which he was taken (Gen. 3:17-19, 23).

But the Lord God was full of mercy and love for His creation and had planned for another garden, His garden, and He determined to be the Master Gardener.  This garden would be more useful, more beautiful, and more glorious than any other because He would do all the work, Himself, to make it a place of great delight, and pleasure; a place where He could eat the pleasant fruits that grew there, and smell the sweet fragrance.  It would be a place that would glorify Him (S.O.S. 4:12-16).

Because the ground was now cursed, hard, and full of thorns and thistles, unable to grow anything useful or beautiful, God asked His Son, His only Son, if He would be willing to cultivate this ground, this soil, so that the plants that He had chosen could, and would grow, and bear precious fruit.  

The Son agreed wholeheartedly, even though His Father chose a site in which to plant His plants that would cause His Son much agonizing labor, and would finally kill him (Lk. 22:44, 23:46).  Yet His Son delighted to do His will because He loved His Father, and loved His plants; He had given them to Him to take care of (Psa. 40:8, Jn. 17:6, 9-10).

Oh, let us plant much "lettuce" in the Lord's garden for we are workers together with Him (II Cor. 6:1).

"Let us" arm ourselves likewise with the same mind; for he that has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin. "Let us" love one another, for love is of God: and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God (I Pet. 4:1, I Jn. 4:7).

May we no longer live the rest of our time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God showing ourselves to be the plants of His planting (Psa. 92:13-14, I Pet. 4:2).