If you Are Given a Second Chance Will You Bear Homegrown Fruit?
Good Morning Friends,
I do not talk to plants. Really I don’t. But growing up in Florida I have always been around plants and there was this one citrus tree in our back yard that had wonderful foliage but never produced. One day I had a come to Jesus meeting with that tree. It was twenty feet high and had never born fruit. I fertilized it with all the right ingredients to prompt blooming but nothing happened until I hit it with the butt of an axe. I stressed it enough to prompt change but not seriously injure. Year after year following that incident that tree has produced in abundance. So it is with us in our lives. God’s mercy works long with us, but one day we will be called to give account. Along the journey little setbacks can be a vital part of prompting needed change. In plants and in people redirected and renewed energy and restored hope comes when we accept God’s forgiveness and mercy. If you Are Given a Second Chance Will You Bear Homegrown Fruit?
Scripture: Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and found none. So he said to the gardener, ‘See here! For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and still I find none. Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the soil?’ He replied, ‘Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it. If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.'”
Luke 13:6-9 (NRSV)
And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
Matthew 6:12 (NRSV)
Message: Transgressions against authority back in the first century came with a much heavier price than we experience today. Setting prisoners free would not have included murders. All the really bad criminals were put to death. Justice and vengeance was quick back then. Only the debtors were in jail. Mercy and second chances were rare under Roman rule. But in God’s Kingdom…in His vineyard we are constantly fed by the word of God and watered by the Spirit of God and warmed by the grace of God. In His Kingdom our needs are supplied according to his rich glory. But even though we look like we are doing well are we really producing fruit? It is easy to be like that fig tree…like that grapefruit tree of mine. And yet God has mercy. Here over our life time God gives us opportunities to make amends, to try harder and to change our attitudes. But eventually we will be held accountable. Eventually we have to learn that it is a sin not to bear fruit….that one day …each day… we must give account. Each day we must give thanks that He is changing us for his purposes. Each day we must be prepared for mercy and justice to be reconciled. So how does the parable end for you in your life and in the places where you worship…in the places you call home? Friends, know that God takes our mistakes and transforms them into fertilize for our lives. God digs around the roots of our hearts, as the Lord of the harvest patiently waits for us, so we might join in partnership with the divine Spirit to bear homegrown fruit.
Pray we bear the fruit of repentance now. Pray we not absorb all the precious resources from the earth and give nothing back. Pray we do not rob nutrients from other trees without producing ourselves. Pray because we have been spared more time and that we rejoice in it. Pray we not drift away from God or have hardened hearts when someone else receives mercy. Pray we turn away from our sin and not repeat it. Pray it is not too late for any of us. Pray that Jesus looks on us with pity and in that suffering looks on us as one of God’s children. Pray we be fruitful Christians. Pray we realize that one day mercy must agree with justice.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 