Juicy fruit

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”

Joshua 1:9 NIV

Wherever you go is an ambitious thought, isn't it? The Lord my God will be with me wherever I go.

I was torn between a couple of verses to talk about this morning, but in some strange way they go together, I think (pardon my strange way of thinking about these things).

The other comes from Luke's 13th chapter.

Then he told his parable: "A man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it and did not find any. So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, 'For three years now I've been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven't found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?' 'Sir,' the man replied, 'leave it along for one more year, and I'll dig around it and fertilize it. If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.'

The implication there is rather staggering isn't it?

I'm in the process of reading a pretty fine piece of work from Bishop Robert Schnase, a look at where we must go next as a denomination (United Methodist) and as the body of Christ. We've been losing folks like a kid with a toy after Christmas for decades. What do we do next?

I think, perhaps, it requires a look inside first. Are we producing fruit? Are we telling someone about our story? Are we fearful of telling someone the incredible news of what Jesus has done for us? Are we not mindful of the fact that the Lord our God will be with us wherever we go?

I'm not here this morning to tell anyone of my incredible successes. I fear that the gardener is going to come any day and tell me that He has been coming around for three years and never found any fruit and that I must be cut down.

Or at the least the gardener is going to tell me I've been working hard all this time, but I've been working at the wrong things and the ground has become stale and useless around me.

But through all that process, I know that the Lord my God is with me. So, if He gives me one more year, I'm going to do everything I can to make a difference, to change the world. It's just that I'm going to start with me, the only thing that I have half a mind (no jokes there, please) to control.