Jesustrek

A few years ago, we planted a couple of hydrangea plants behind our house. These plants did pretty well, producing beautiful flowers that we enjoyed for much of the year. However, the hydrangeas didn’t fare too well in the harsh winter we just experienced. We kept waiting for signs of new life this spring, but we finally had to admit it—our hydrangeas were dead. Today I dug them up and burned them.

This reminds me of a story Jesus tells in Luke 13. A man who had planted a fig tree expected it to have fruit by now, but it had none. He told his hired hand to cut it down. The worker suggested that they fertilize it and give it one more year to bear fruit. If it didn’t, then they would cut it down.

The point of the story is that God expects us to live fruitful lives. We are saved by God’s grace through our faith in Jesus, but we are saved in order to do good works that prove that we do indeed have a saving faith.

Let’s make sure that we are producing something for the Lord.

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith…For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”—Ephesians 2:8-10.