SCRIPTURE:
“Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it but did not find any. So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’ “‘Sir,’ the man replied, ‘leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it. If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.’”
Luke 13:6-9
OBSERVATION:
Fruit is often a great indicator of where an individual is at. You can’t tell much about someone’s walk just by looking at them, but you can point towards the fruit in their life to get a pretty good idea.
The obvious fruit are ones like we find in Galatians 5:22-23.
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” – Galatians 5:22-23
Do you see kindness, gentleness and self-control or do you see cruelty, chaos and a lack of discipline? Do you see division or do you see unity? Do you hear one thing, but see another?
In His infinite love, God doesn’t simply “chop us down” so to speak if we aren’t fruitful. He in fact gives us a chance to grow. To turn from our current ways and walk in His.
This parable of fruitlessness follows a call to repentance.
“I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.” – Luke 13:5
In His grace and mercy, God WILL give us a chance to BE fruitful, just as the man speaks of in this parable. He WILL give us a chance to turn and go in the other direction. He gives us a chance to repent and exhibit the kind of fruit that can be found in a true disciple.
APPLICATION:
These verses in Luke could easily describe the first three years of my walk with Christ. If you were to look at my life back then you would see very little, if any, fruit growing. I was going to church, trying to do my devotions and doing my best to follow Christ, but my tree was barren.
Much of this had to do with my selfish me-first mentality. Always looking towards my best interest and not the interest of others.
This had a lot to do with the soil my heart was planted in.
See, I was around believers, around followers of Jesus, but that didn’t necessarily mean that by osmosis I was becoming a true disciple. A trench still needed to be dug around the soil of my heart to separate me from the world and its ways.
The Holy Spirit still needed to do some heart work and fertilization to grow me into who Christ was calling me to be. A disciple that lived out the fruit of the Spirit – love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
I’ve heard it said that going to church doesn’t make you any more of a Christian than standing in a garage makes you a car.
In this parable of the tree, a year is given for fruit to grow. In much the same way, I’m thankful for the time and grace that the Lord gave me to grow, and the community of believers He placed me in that would help me.
As I was given time and grace to grow, I must give the same to others around me.
PRAYER:
Father Almighty. Forgive me Lord for times when I have not given the grace to others that I was given. Thank You Lord for your love, mercy and forgiveness. May I give to others as You have freely given to me, this I pray, in Jesus’ name, Amen.
