Daily Devotion
The Gospel of the Other Chance and Threat of the Last Chance
Created: Tuesday, 17 April 2018 22:13
Hits: 1231
LUKE 13:6-9 ---
Here is a parable at one and the same time lit by grace and close-packed with warnings.
(1st) the fig tree occupied a specially favored position. It was not unusual to see fig trees and apple trees in vineyards. The soil was so shallow and poor that trees were grown wherever there was soil to grow them; but the fig tree had a more than average chance, and it had not proved worthy of it. Repeatedly, directly and by implication, Jesus reminded men that they would be judged according to the opportunities they had. Never was a generation entrusted with so much as ours, and, therefore, never was a generation so answerable to God.
(2nd) the parable teaches that uselessness invites disaster. It has been claimed that the whole process of evolution in this world is to produce useful things and that what is useful will go on from strength to strength, while what is useless will be eliminated. The most searching question we can be asked is, "Of what use were you in this world?"
(3rd) the parable also teaches that nothing which only takes out can survive.The fig tree was drawing strength and sustenance from the soil, and in return was producing nothing. That was its sin. In the last analysis, there are two kinds of people in this world---those who take out more than they put in, and those who put more in than they take out.
In one sense, we are all indebt to life. We came into it at the peril of someone else's life, and we would never have survived without the care of those who loved us. We have inherited a Christian civilization and a freedom that we did not create. There is laid on us the duty of handing things on better than we found them.
"Die when I may," said Abraham Lincoln, "I want it said of me that I plucked a weed and planted a flower wherever I thought a flower would grow."
(4th) the parable tells us of the gospel of the second chance.A fig tree normally takes three years to reach maturity. If it is not bearing fruit by that time, it is not likely to bear fruit at all. But this fig tree was given another chance. It is always Jesus' way to give chance after chance. Peter, Mark and Paul would all gladly have witnessed to that. God is infinitely kind to the person who falls and rises again.
(5th) but the parable makes it quite clear that there is a final chance. If God's appeal and challenge come again and again in vain, the day finally comes, not when God has shut us out, butwhen we by deliberate choice, have shut ourselves out. [GOD SAVE US FROM THAT]
Life Application: If you have invited God into your life, stay true to Him. If you haven't, don't ignore God's invitation. Heaven is the reward for opening the door to Him and letting Him come into your life. Don't deliberately shut Him out.
Praise and Prayer: Dear Father, I am so thankful that You offer more than one opportunity in a lifetime to receive Jesus' work on Calvary. This parable shows Your mercy and love. I pray for those who have received more than one invitation and refused to accept. They don't know what they are missing. Holy Spirit, please continue to speak to them before it is too late. Amen!
