My meditation from last Sunday, speaking from the voice of Jesus.
Based on Luke 13:1-9
Do you think that misfortune befalls only the wicked? Do you think that by playing it safe, that by staying out of trouble, that by pointing a finger at suffering and assuming they sin, that comforting yourself by believing they’re only getting what they deserve, that disaster will never strike you? Well guess again. The Galileans Herod murdered while they worshipped in the temple were no worse sinners than you. And taking up the cause of hatred and retaliation will do you no good. Towers collapse. Walls tumble and the innocent are crushed. I have told you that the rain falls on the just and unjust alike, and likewise we are all going to die. Death is part of life, but that doesn’t mean we’re doomed.
No one knows the day or the hour, so choose a life without regrets, live a life that lines you up with God. Straighten up and fly right. Turn around. In other words, repent.
Don’t be like that fig tree, stuck in the ground, unwilling to spread out roots, to delve deeply and take sustenance from the soil. God didn’t plant us in this garden to be dormant forever. There is a time for rest, for suspended activity, and there is a time for nourishment that takes place within, for filling ourselves with holy nutrients, and there is a time, just look around you and you’ll see it right now—to leaf out and blossom, and by becoming who you were created to be, you offer beauty, comfort and signs of God growth to the world. As you ripen and mature, there is a time to bear fruit and to feed others from your abundance.
So don’t stand there like the near dead tree, afraid to thrive. Call out to gardener God—let that green thumb fertilize you with word and prayer, let all your experiences, the failures and defeats, the accomplishments and joys compost together to feed you and bring new life. Soak up rain and spirit. Don’t be content to simply exist. God who rooted you in the soil of everlasting love will provide everything you need to produce a bumper crop. And I have come to call you into that life abundant.
What are you waiting for?
