I’ll dig around it and fertilize it

He replied, ‘Sir let I 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 13:8-9

In last Sunday’s message; I touched upon the parable of the talents, from the point of view of our being faithful to God in the use of our God-given talents. The bible passage above provides a similar scenario in which Jesus tells a parable about a barren fig tree that had been planted in a man’s vineyard. After a reasonable period of time had passed the man came back to the fig tree expecting to find fruit and was disappointed to find the tree barren; it had produced no fruit!

Unhappy with the fig tree the man ordered it to be cut down; it’s just taking up valuable resources. The story has a similar message to the servant who was given one talent and who decided to bury his talent. In the case of the servant given one talent, his time had run out when master returned and took away his (only) talent to be given to the guy who had multiplied his talents from five to ten. Interestingly however in the example above we see that through the intervention of the man’s gardener, the fig tree is given another chance.

As I read this story I’m reminded about another (and quite similar) story where Jesus seeing the fig tree from afar (with many leaves) on drawing near and seeing that it had no fruits cursed it (Mark 11:12-26). The one in this story however is given another chance at being productive.

In a sense it’s like our relationship with God the Father; like the fig tree we have been given access to Gods limitless pool of resources and for some reason we find from time to time that there are aspects or areas in our lives that are barren, not producing the fruit that the master expects; and Jesus (the Son) steps in to tell God (the Father) that he will dig around it and put some manure on it. Jesus (through His Spirit) steps into (the garden of our heart) to do some reconstructive work on that area of our lives thereby giving us another chance.
Jesus can however only do this piece of reconstructive work in our lives when we; recognising our inability to go it alone fall to our knees in repentance and submit to his will in our lives. I know that Jesus is always mediating for us in the presence of the Father because the bible (God’s word) says so and we must find some comfort and hope in this.

Now is not the time to throw in the towel and give up because you’ve tried and tried without getting the results that you wanted, on the contrary it’s the time to take stock, reflect on what the Spirit is saying to you and surrender to His will in your life. It’s time to let the Spirit of the Lord (as it were) garden your heart (removing any unproductive weeds) and for him to apply manure (through His word) to bring new life in those parts of your life that desperately need it. God is faithful and just that he will not leave you nor will he forsake you; you do however need to surrender to the will of the Master Gardener because only He has the ability to take that which is barren and breathe new life into it. Will you let Him? It’s a choice that only you can make.
Have a great week
Babs