Reflecting on Luke 13:1-9“Leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it.” (Luke 13:8)
Jesus tells this parable as part of the call to repent, to turn around.
The idea of bearing fruit ties in with the call to live a life of love.
Is God like the man with the fig tree, expecting good fruit?
Or is God like Jesus, like the gardener, working in us to help us grow good fruit?
Jesus shows us that God is like the gardener, giving time and help for change.
God does not say ‘cut it down’ but ‘leave it alone’ and ‘I will fertilize’.
The time that we live is like this ‘one more year’ season of patient work.
Jesus is still digging up and fertilizing me, and my fruit is changing.
I’m still not there, but I press on to do what Jesus is working in me to do.
This calls for daily rethinking and redirecting, what repentance means.
Some so-called evangelists prefer the ‘cut it down’ method.
They shout ‘repent or perish’ (‘turn or burn’) as a judgment and a threat.
Good news people actually say ‘leave them alone’ and ‘I will work with them’.
The fruit of the Spirit includes patience, like God is patient with us.
Jesus is still patiently working in us; let me do the same with myself, and others.
PRAYER
Lord Jesus, help me not to be a 'cut them down' Christian, which is NOT good news at all. Help me to be a 'leave them alone' Christian, one that patiently works with those who still need help producing better fruit.
God is not finished with me yet. As I still need to grow doing His will, those I meet and greet also need time to grow. I need to be an instrument of His peace. I need to be His servant. We all need to produce ‘good fruit’ and we can help one another doing just that.