GodSprings - December 31, 2015

The Never Tiring Jesus

 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 (NIV)

Few more hours and then we will be entering into yet another new year. Before we enter into the new year we need to have a moment to evaluate how we spent the last year. I believe that this time last year we all took decisions during the Watch Night Service sharing testimonies and making resolutions that we will change our ways. I presume we honestly had good intentions about changing our ways. But, like Peter, we are rocks that move. We fall, we falter, we fail, we make mistakes, we hurt other people (often the people we love most and most often it is God tough we don’t realise it).

We fail so often, not only in our close relationships but also in our involvement with the "outside" world. As Christians, we know that we are called to personal involvement in God's mission of love to the world. We know that we are on mission, all our lives. We know we are to bear fruits.

In Albert Camus' novel, entitled "The Fall," there is a devastating line that expresses the truth of this. The drama begins where a respectable lawyer, walking in the streets of Amsterdam, hears a cry in the night. He realizes a woman has fallen or been pushed into the canal and is crying for help. Then the thoughts come rushing through his mind: Of course he must help, but... A respected lawyer getting involved in this way?

What would the implications be? ... And what about the personal danger? After all, who knows what has been going on over there. By the time he has thought it through, it is too late. He moves on, making all kinds of excuses to justify his failure to act. But, Camus, in that devastating line, says, "He did not answer the cry for help. That is the man he was."

This is precisely what happens to us. We come here with good intentions. We resolve to be Christian women and men as never before. Then we go back out and we hear the cries for help but we just move on, making excuses all the way. And we stand under the judgment of Camus' devastating line: He did not answer the cry for help. That is the man he was.

Before we enter a new year we need to ask how many times at home, or at school or at work, did people say he/she did not answer the cry for help. God needs us and the world needs us. We are not cut down because Jesus has once again tirelessly pleaded and asked God to wait expecting the fruit from us. Let us resolve to make this world a better place within the grace period God has given us.