THE GOSPEL OF LUKE: - Vital Christianity

52WATCH OUT FOR A BARREN LIFE!The Parable of the Barren Fig TreeLuke 13:6-9This parable is about defeat and opportunities. When we fail, we kind of take it out on God,don't we? We take it out on ourselves, and then I think we often feel that God's against us. We often feelthat he's given up on us. So we become angry. It becomes a kind of cycle. There are many folks who justwalk away from God, faith, because they feel like failures, and they really don't think they can meet God'sstandards. They think the standards are too high, and it's kind of a movement of defeat.JUDGED ACCORDING TO OPPORTUNITIESIn the Parable of the Fig Tree Jesus teaches us that we will be judged according to theopportunities we have:“ Then He told this parable: "A man had a fig tree, planted in his vineyard, and hewent to look for fruit on it, but did not find any. So he said to the man who tookcare of the vineyard, 'For three years now I've been coming to look for fruit onthis fig tree and haven't found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?'(13:6-7)soul.The “fig tree” probably refers to the Jewish nation, but it may also apply to the individualUselessness invites disaster! While the fig tree was drawing nourishment and strengthfrom the soil, it was producing nothing in return.There are two kinds of people in the world: those who take out more than they put in andthose who put in more than they take out.As human beings, we are all indebted. After all, we came into this world at the risk ofanother person: our mother. Without her and others’ nourishment and care we would have nochance to even survive, much less grow. As Westerners we have inherited a Judeo/Christiancivilization with freedoms and values we did not create.Abraham Lincoln said:“Die when I may, I want it said of me that I plucked a weed and planted a flowerwherever I thought a flower would grow.” 1