The Lesson of the Fig Tree

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Wednesday, November 30, 2016

“Now learn a lesson from the fig tree.  When its branches bud and its leaves begin to sprout, you know that summer is near.  In the same way, when you see all these things, you can know his return is very near, right at the door.  I tell you the truth, this generation will not pass from the scene until all these things take place.  Heaven and earth will disappear, but my words will never disappear.  However, no one knows the day or hour when these things will happen, not even the angels in heaven or the Son himself.  Only the Father knows.  “When the Son of Man returns, it will be like it was in Noah’s day.  In those days before the flood, the people were enjoying banquets and parties and weddings right up to the time Noah entered his boat.  People didn’t realize what was going to happen until the flood came and swept them all away.  That is the way it will be when the Son of Man comes.  

Matthew 24:32-39^(NLT)

Parables, or stories, were told by Jesus to teach one central truth.  They are like signposts, pointing to something much greater than their own reality.  When I want to go somewhere I check the road signs against my GPS.  The sign that says Thomasville 19 miles out on Interstate 85 is just a bit of metal.  The reality comes later. 

Teaching the reality of the coming destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70, Jesus uses the fig tree’s flowering to tell us to stay alert, look at the signs, and be prepared.  There’s a somewhat confusing, but specific reference to the generation that would still be alive.  But that is the way people of Jesus' day measured segments of time; a generation consisting of 40 years.  The coming event was only a generation away.  But the later event, His Second Advent ^(v.36) would be sudden and unexpected by many. 

Jesus illustrates with the example of Noah.  Noah took the abuse of his neighbors as he built an ark in the sunshine for 120 years.  But one day, when God was ready, the ark door closed...the laughing subsided...Don't misunderstand the parable that tells you God will someday take care of business.

The lesson from this bit of practical advice is simply to accept the fact that God has set the time; and Jesus will be back when He is back!  You will know about it.  As a believer, He has promised to come back for you.  The event will be very open, with Jesus coming in clouds and glory.  It will be a little like the elephants at the circus; you never have to ask, have the elephants come in?  You KNOW when they've arrived!  What you do while waiting for His coming is prepare to meet the Lord at His arrival. 

Martha Snell Nicholson was a poet who spoke from her invalid’s bed of pain in the 1950’s.  Listen to her beautiful words as she spoke words of truth we should all heed:

The best part is the blessed hope of his soon coming.  How I ever lived before I grasped that wonderful truth, I do not know.  How anyone lives without it these trying days I cannot imagine.  

Each morning I think, with a leap of the heart, He may come today.  

And each evening, When I awake I may be in glory.  

Each day must be lived as though it were to be my last, and there is so much to be done to purify myself and to set my house in order.  

I am on tiptoe with expectancy.  

There are no more grey days – for they're all touched with color;

no more dark days – for the radiance of His coming is on the horizon;

no more dull days, with glory just around the corner;

and no more lonely days, with His footsteps coming ever nearer, and the thought that soon, soon, I shall see His blessed face and be forever through with pain and tears is the joy that awaits.[ii]

For You Today

Whatever you do today, keep the house of your relationship with God…in order!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road…have a blessed day!

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NOTES

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[i] Title image: By കാക്കര (Own work), via Wikimedia Commons

[ii] From a poem by Martha Snell Nicholson

Plant Deep & Water Often

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Tuesday, March 1, 2016

VIDEO

Today’s guest is Anna Murdock, a lifetime member of Broad Street United Methodist Church in Statesville, NC., and a dear friend in Christ.  

What follows is from Anna's pen and was posted on her blog, at PewPonderings.com on February 24, 2016, and is re-posted here with permission.  When I read it I knew this is something every Christian should read...and heed. Enjoy!

“being sure of what we hope for, and certain of what we do not see.” (Hebrews 11:1).

The instructions were clear and exact from the elderly gentleman who gave what looked to be a dead stick to my mother.  He asked a question that seemed puzzling at first… “How big is your backyard?”  Then he held out his hand and offered to her the twig wrapped in a bit of newspaper.  “Plant it deep and water it often,” he said.  Those were his complete instructions for what he trusted would grow into a fig tree.  I laughed at the thought of this precious gift of a twig from his own fig tree being handed over to my mother (who is very definitely not a gardener!) and to be honest with you, I shook my head at the thoughts that it would ever show signs of life.  But as my mother re-tells the story each season and I listen once again, we both realize that there was no question in the mind of the one who offered this gift to her.  He had complete faith that this seemingly dead twig would grow into a fine fig tree that would need a lot of backyard.

But there is more to the story….more to the miracle of its survival and to the harvest of its fruit.  The twig was offered at the onslaught of one of the worst droughts that seemed to [hover] over the area.  “Plant it deep and water it often.”  It was difficult to be obedient to the instructions of this gift-giver in the face of mandatory water restrictions.  No watering lawns.  No washing cars.  Use water sparingly indoors.  In light of all of the restrictions, my mother still planted what looked to be just a dead twig.  A bowl was kept in her sink that caught any water that would have gone down the drain.  She washed her hands over the bowl.  She emptied the juice from cans of vegetables into this bowl.  Any saved liquid was carried out to water this little twig.  In her obedience, she found many ways to water it often, as she was told to do.  The twig began to show signs of life.  Leaves sprouted.  It grew taller.  At the signs of its first fruits, my mother rejoiced.  Now look at the tree!  Beautiful.  Strong.  Filled with fruit that will most certainly be given to others.

There is truly much to be learned in this fig tree and that is why I don’t mind listening to the story of the tree’s beginnings once again.  The words of the gift-giver tell it all, don’t they?  “How big is your backyard” or perhaps better asked…”How big is your God?”  This is a parable of faith… of “being sure of what we hope for, and certain of what we do not see.” (Hebrews 11:1).  It is a lesson of trusting the One who is completely trustworthy and whose promises always accompany commands.  It is a reminder that obedience to God often includes times of testing… but obedience always produces great fruit.

For You Today

Think on these words of the gift-giver.  “How big is your backyard?  (How big is your God?)  Plant deep and water often.”  May you see in this week, God’s great certainties in what once seemed your very small possibilities.  And may you be reminded that in your faith, trust and obedience, you will most certainly see the promises of God come to fruition.  “Plant deep, water often…and bear fruit!”

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road today…and have a blessed day!

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[1] Title Image:  Courtesy Anna Murdock at Pew Ponderings (used by permission)