A Useless Tree - 11/24/07

Luke 13:6-9, “Jesus told this story: ‘A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard. … the man said to his gardener, ‘I have been looking for fruit on this tree for three years, but I never find any. Cut it down. Why should it waste the ground?’ But the servant answered, ‘Master, let the tree have one more year to produce fruit. Let me dig up the dirt around it and put on some fertilizer. If the tree produces fruit next year, good. But if not, you can cut it down.’”

I wonder how many times in my life I’ve been “The Useless Tree” in this story. It’s so easy for my focus to go from the eternal to the immediate and begin working on what’s best for my comfort rather than what’s best for my condition. If Jesus is the gardener, I’m sure there have been countless times he’s interceded for me. I’m sure that more often than I’d like to admit, He’s gone to the Father to say, “Hang on; don’t give up yet, this fruit is good. Let me work on this tree for a bit and get it to produce fruit again.”

According to this parable, “working on the tree” means digging up dirt and adding fertilizer. Sometimes I feel like there’s enough “fertilizer” in my life – too much junk. But in this case, fertilizer refers to food. Good food. Plant food. The Word of God, spending time alone with Him, worship, fellowship, keeping in step with the spirit rather than what the flesh wants – this is all good food that will help produce fruit for my God. I need more of this in my life, as we all do.

Unfortunately, instead of good food, instead of fertilizer, we have a lot of dirt. Dry dirt. Dirt that takes up space and makes us feel like we’re planted firmly, but offers nothing in return. Instead, it starves us. It replaces the food we need from God with emptiness, and we wither. The fruit stops growing, and we waste the ground we stand on. This is not how I want to live. Choose this day whom you will serve … as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.

It’s time to let the Gardener do His job again, to dig out the dirt in my life and replace it with rich, dark soil that will feed my deepest spiritual hunger and allow me to produce the kind of fruit He wants, fruit of the spirit. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control. This is how I want to be identified. By their fruit you will recognize them. This is how I will be identified. I am going to be a good tree and produce the fruit my Father is looking for.

El Paseo - 7/29/06

John 14:4,6 "You know the way to the place I am going. ...I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the father except through me."

I like the layers of wisdom and direction found in this verse. Where was the place He was going? To His Father's house. The way in which He was to travel was through sacrifice - offering Himself up to pay for our sins. The place He was gong was also the Cross.

But, the way we know of to get to His final destination is to follow Him; His teachings, His way of living. The whole time Jesus was engated in ministry, He spent every waking minute telling people how to be reconciled with teh Father, and showing them the power of God through His actions.

That's another thing I like about this verse - "You know the way..."
In verse 6, Jesus says "I am the way..."

"You know The Way."

Jesus is the way, and I know Him personally. He is my God, but also my friend, my guide, my Father, my confidant - my everything. He is the way to that place where all hope is fulfilled. Permanent Peace. Permanent Love. Permanent understanding. Permanent life. That means no more separation through death either. Saying goodbye to people you love is hard, be it for a season while moving to another country or for a lifetime if death is the cause of that separation.

Thankfully, in Jesus no goodbye is permanent. Because through Him, everybody has been given direction to the same place; everybody has been shown the way to meet each other again. It may sting for the moment you experience the separation, but if those you love follow The Way, the Truth, and the Life, then we'll all arrive together in everlasting life.

I think a little bit of what I experienced today is a big part of the eternity experience. We had everybody over to say goodbye before moving to Belize, good friends and family. It ended with sad goodbyes - but I knew I'd see them again. And in the life everlasting, this day would not have ended. We would all continue to enjoy each other's company in the presence of our most powerful God who brought us all together in the first place, both in this world and again when we are all reunited in His kingdom.

Until then, everybody has been given their own map to follow leading to that moment.

Don't lose the Way, and I'll see you there.

Law & Order - 3/30/06

There is a spiritual law at work in our lives that I don't quite understand. For reasons I cannot fathom, blood is spiritual currency; it can be traded for redemption. That’s why the Jewish people sacrificed animals, because our sin brings about death and blood can erase sin. But, only sinless blood. That makes every one of us broke.

There is one however who is not broke. Just one. The book of Revelation, the book that describes the end of all things, shows a moment in time where Heaven looks throughout all of history for one person worthy enough to open the scroll that brings about God’s final plan. Here, worthy meant "without any sin." No one was found, not one person ever. John, the author of the book, began to weep. An angel then told him, “Do not cry! The Lion from the tribe of Judah, David’s descendant, has won the victory so that He is able to open the scroll and its seven seals” Revelation 5:5.

Jesus is the powerful Lion of Judah he spoke of, the one who is not spiritually bankrupt. The victory spoken of here is obeying his Father and allowing himself to be killed. His blood was sinless, the only blood powerful enough. His was the only spiritual bank account big enough to cancel OUR debt – and He did it out of love for us. He resisted the urge to have legions of angels strike down his oppressors and instead let them shed his sinless blood on behalf of our sinful selves.

I opened my Bible tonight and began reading an excerpt in the margins from Six Hours One Friday by Max Lucado. It described the moment when the Father in Heaven cast my sin, our sin, onto Jesus and then allowed Him to be slain in our place.

“Hour of death, moment of sacrifice, it is your moment. Rehearsed a million times on false altars with false lambs; the moment of truth has come… The living must die so that the dying can live. The time has come to kill the lamb…”

The instant man first sinned, this was the only option remaining to bridge the divide sin caused between rebellious man and a perfect, holy God. And He followed through with it because He loves us each so much.

Immediately after reading that, I flipped over a chunk of pages. I know God was speaking to me directly through the words on the page (like I asked Him to before starting my devotion) because my eyes were already focused on the line that read, “I have loved you.” Yup. I know this to be true, and believed He was telling me this now through His word, but the English teacher in me became confused by the tense. What do you mean, “have loved?” That’s past tense. You don’t love me still?
Then I read the next line of the verse, “The greatest love a person can show is to die for his friends.” ... I have loved you...

BAM! Yes, he has loved me because He died for me – past tense, thank you very much. And, whoah! He called me – us – His friends! John 15:12-17, “This is my command: Love each other as I have loved you. The greatest love a person can show is to die for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know what his master is doing. But I call you friends, because I have made known to you everything I heard from my father. You did not choose me; I chose you. And I give you this work: to go and produce fruit, fruit that will last. Then the father will give you anything you ask for in my name. This is my command: Love each other.”

We’ve been promoted here. From servant, to friend. We have been told His plan – by doing so He offered to us His friendship. We prove ours to Him by doing what He commands. We’re not slaves, we don’t have to. But if we obey His teachings, we’re friends with the most high God and if we work for Him we can have anything we ask for in Jesus’ name.

I think of my friends, and how I want them to get along with each other because I love them all. You probably feel the same way. Same with Jesus. We’re His friends and He wants us to love each other. Loving others is His command, which in some circumstances may in itself be work. But this is the work that bears fruit – fruit that lasts. Loving others enough to bring them into God’s presence so they may be touched by His love is hard work, and can be done in countless ways. But that work bears the fruit that will last forever.

Loving each other will restore order. Again, I don’t fully understand spiritual law, but I know blood has power in it and the most powerful blood has been shed for me and anyone else who will receive that gift. That’s the law that will bring about ultimate order through His loving sacrifice. Revelation 5:11-12, “Then I looked, and I heard the voices of many angels around the throne, and the four living creatures, and the elders. There were thousands and thousands of angels, saying in a loud voice: ‘The Lamb who was killed is worthy to receive power, wealth, wisdom, and strength, honor, glory, and praise!”

That’s my friend...

Is he yours?