Produce Some Fruit So That You’re Not Cut Down
It’s Spring, if you garden it’s time to get to work. Some people love to garden. Some of us not so much. My abilities are better used in other ways.
An old man lived with his son. He loved planting a garden. It was time to dig up the garden and plant potatoes. The old man was counting on his son’s help with the work of digging… but his son was in jail.
The old man wrote a letter to the son. He told him how sad he was that he wouldn’t be able to dig up the garden and plant the potatoes.
The son wrote him back and told him…Don’t dig up the garden…that’s where I buried the guns.
The next morning the police showed up and dug up the whole garden looking for guns. They didn’t find any. They apologized for tearing up the garden and left.
Confused the dad wrote to the son and told him what had happened. The son replied…
Now you can plant the potatoes…It’s the best I could do from here.
The son figured out a way to help his father even though he wasn’t there in person.
This week’s Scripture was from Luke 13:1-9. The man went out to pick some figs, but the tree didn’t have any on it. He told the gardener, “For three years I have come looking for figs on this tree, and I haven’t found any yet. Chop it down! Why should it take up space?”
The gardener answered, “Master, leave it for another year. I’ll dig around it and put some fertilizer on it to make it grow.
If it doesn’t have any fruit next year, you can cut down.”
There are times when we’re the fig tree and times when we’re the gardener.
Life is short. We have a limited time to produce fruit. If we need help, then let the gardener help.
Don’t be a tree just taking up space and not producing any fruit.
The fruit we produce is our legacy. Produce the fruit you have been put here for. Fertilizer effects the outcome. What we put in determines the fruit we produce. Use good fertilizer.
Like the fig tree we get second chances, but there is a limit. At some point we will be cut down and thrown in the fire.
Don’t wait…start producing fruit now.
We might be a gardener helping trees through our work and encouragement. We can help others produce the fruit they are intended to produce.
We all know of trees that aren’t producing any fruit. Even if we can’t be there in person to help, we can use our skills and abilities to help the tree.
Whether we’re the tree or the gardener there is a limited number of chances and time.
Don’t wait to be cut down and thrown in the fire. Start producing fruit now.