Tuesday 10/21/14

Tuesday’s Recap summarizes the previous evening’s Pizza and Prayer. If you couldn’t join us last night, or if for some strange reason you can’t remember what happened (amnesia?), here’s what you missed:
 

The next day as they were leaving Bethany he was hungry. Seeing from a distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see if he could find anything on it. When he reached it he found nothing but leaves; it was not the time for figs. And he said to it in reply, “May no one ever eat of your fruit again!” And his disciples heard it.

Mark 11:12-14

At first glance, this passage looks really strange, but it's actually pretty full of meaning. The story has at least two lessons which are important for our lives.
 
The first lesson is that we are to be fruitful people now. There is a story Father Chris often tells of a young man who was ill to the point of death. He sent for a priest, but by the time he arrived, the man had made a recovery, and it looked like he was going to survive. The priest asked if he would like to make a confession anyway and maybe say a prayer to thank God for his returned good health. The young man responded that no, now that he was getting better, he didn’t need God. He was waiting to have “one of those eleventh hour conversions.” The priest responded, “Well, you’d better hope the Lord doesn’t take you at 10:50!”
 
It is easy to fall into the same trap as that young man. It is easy to say, “I’ll kick that habit later.” It is easy to say, “I’ll fix that part of my life when I’m older,” or “I have my whole life ahead of me to be good, I’m young now, I want to have fun.” It is easy to put God’s work on hold and keep pushing it down the line. Someday, though, all of us will die. We don’t know when, or how, but we will die. When that day comes, we, like the fig tree, will meet God. Jesus does not spare the fig tree just because, “it was not the time for figs.” Jesus curses the tree anyway. A fig tree’s purpose is to bear fruit. So is a person’s. We must be people who bear good fruit, and we must be those people today.
 
The second message of the story is not clear until a couple of passages later, when they return to the tree and find that it has withered. The disciples are amazed that the tree has died so quickly after Jesus’ words, and he tells them that if they have true faith they will be able to do that and more.
 
If we have faith, we can do the impossible. We may not be able to control the natural world the way Jesus did (after all, he is God) but we can do things people say cannot be done. We can change social systems. We can change hearts and minds that do not want to be changed. We can keep going long after others think we should have run out of strength or resolve. We can live better lives than people think are possible. All this can be done with faith.
 
Do you have that faith?


Lord,
Help me to bear good fruit. Help me to act today and not procrastinate with my Christian duty. Give me the faith to work for good in the world now, and trust that it will come about.
Amen


Last night's playlist: 
      Lead Me – Sanctus Real
      Give Me Jesus – Jeremy Camp
      Here I Am to Worship – Chris Tomlin
      Healing Hand of God – Jeremy Camp
      7x70 – Chris August
      King of Glory – Third Day
      I Will Follow – Chris Tomlin
      My Beloved – Chris Taucar
      10,000 Reasons – Matt Redman
      Love Never Fails – Brandon Heath
      O Praise Him – David Crowder Band