Friday, July 13, 2012

Conflict Yields Fruit

Jesus was the Master storyteller.  His parables often involved encouragement for His disciples to be engaged in good works.  Often couched in an agrarian motif, a popular theme is the fruit tree.  The parable of the tree needing fertilizer in Luke is a favorite:

    And he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. And he said to the vinedresser, ‘Look, for three years now I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down. Why should it use up the ground?’ And he answered him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure. Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’”

The straightforward point is this:  Sometimes you need a little cr*p in your life to become productive!