Read Luke 13:1–9
The practice of digging around a tree is common when it is not growing well and, in turn, not producing the fruit it was planted for. When the soil around the tree is disturbed, the roots are damaged in the digging, and then the tree has to grow new roots, which, in turn, strengthen the tree to bear fruit for the next season.
Jesus tells a parable about a fig tree that doesn’t bear fruit. The owner says, ‘Well cut it down’, but the man taking care of it says, ‘Leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilise it’.
The tree doesn’t need to be destroyed but disturbed and fed instead.
We are like this tree. We were planted in the kingdom of God by faith in Jesus and given a purpose – to bear fruit. Yet it is easy to drift away from Jesus and begin to follow the way of the world and the way of ourselves. We find it easier to listen to the devil, tempting us with lies in the idea that ‘it is my life and my body; I can do what I like’.
But Jesus has chosen you as his own for his purpose. To bear fruit. The fruit of God’s love in action toward those around you. You are created to be a blessing to others. You are blessed to bless others with God’s love in action.
When the word of the Lord challenges you to live differently, it is like Jesus digging at your roots – the roots in self rather than in the word. You see, the word is the fertiliser of life, and the word of Jesus Christ will feed and sustain you in bearing the fruit of God’s love in action.
When Jesus digs at your roots, hear the word, and be ready for his word to guide, challenge, heal and restore you. Be prepared for his word to nourish your hungry soul, ready to go out into the world with new growth and fruit that blesses others.
Dear Jesus, dig into my roots of selfishness and worldly ways. Let me grow in you to bear fruit for others. Help me to be a blessing to everyone I meet today. Feed me, nourish me, and strengthen me daily in your holy word. Amen.
Pastor Mark lives with his two daughters aged 11 and 8 in Redcliffe, just north of Brisbane. He currently serves as a pastor in the LCANZ and is passionate about sharing Jesus’ love with those around him. Pastor Mark loves to travel with his family to see the wonders of God’s creation and meet people who share their stories of what God has done for them.
God knows what’s inside us
by Tim Klein
Click here to download your printable verse to carry with you today.
In all Israel there was not a man so highly praised for his handsome appearance as Absalom (2 Samuel 14:25a).
Read 2 Samuel 14:25–33
Here’s a song that had some sort of resonance with my younger self – or perhaps not, maybe?
Oh Lord, it’s hard to be humble
When you’re perfect in every way
I can’t wait to look in the mirror
I get better looking each day
Did you read about Absalom’s hair? Lustrous, luxurious locks. He cut it once a year, weighed it and valued it greatly. He was the golden boy of the kingdom with visions of the throne in mind. ‘From the top of his head to the sole of his foot there was no blemish in him’ (verse 25b).
I suspect when we look in the mirror, we are hoping to see something like that – rather than our lost and wrinkled dreams.
The blemish we can’t see is the mess inside – sin’s blemish, and it can’t be hidden. It will emerge.
Under the physical beauty, Absalom seethed against his half-brother, who had raped his sister, ultimately having him killed. Absalom’s rage against his father, David, led him to plot David’s downfall so that he could seize the Kingdom of Israel. (More to come in the following devotions.)
While at war with David, Absalom suffered a tragic death. Ironically, it was his beautiful hair that tangled in the branches of a tree, suspending him where he died at the hands of Joab, a general of David’s army.
Despite all that Absalom had done, David mourned his death. He was heartbroken for the son who tried to kill him and steal his throne. You can read more of Absalom’s story in chapters 13 to 18 of 2 Samuel.
How amazing that David could still love this son of his, whose anger had led him to war against his father. Finally, it was Solomon (Jedidiah), another of David’s sons, who became king of Israel.
We are children of the King – our King Jesus! Give thanks that he looks beneath our surface, recognises the blemishes of sin in our lives and still loves us.
O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good – his love is everlasting.
Father God, we are humbled by your love. Thank you for your mercy and grace that forgives sin’s stain in our lives and keeps us in your kingdom. Amen.
Tim is a recently retired LCANZ pastor. He enjoys spending time with family, connecting with neighbours and gardening. This is the season of flowers: beautiful irises, anemones, proteas, leucodendrons and leucospermums – and roses! They all give witness to God’s glory and grace.
Where there’s death, there’s hope
by Tim Klein
Click here to download your printable verse to carry with you today.
Why are you acting this way? While the child was alive, you fasted and wept, but now that the child is dead, you get up and eat! (2 Samuel 12:21)
Read 2 Samuel 12:15–31
From time to time, we use the phrase ‘Where there’s life, there’s hope.’
But it seems the Lord has other ways of dealing with life, death and hope. Here in today’s word, where there’s death, there’s hope!
While David’s son, born to Uriah’s wife, lies dying, David is fasting and pleading with the Lord for his life. He had hope that the Lord would rescue this child from death. When the child finally dies, David, instead of entering into mourning, gets on with life. Life continues with a new hope, a new way ahead. Solomon, David’s son from Bathsheba, is born. He is also named Jedidiah. This name, given by the Lord through the prophet Nathan, means ‘beloved by the Lord’.
So we have this situation where, while the child from Uriah’s wife is dying, David has hope, and when the child dies, it’s not the end! A new hope emerges: new life, new plans.
That’s how it can be with life and death among us. There’s always something dying – life ebbs away in so many ways. Yet the Lord, with grace and mercy, will be at work doing new things. He says it in Revelation 21:5: ‘He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!”’
You could consider some of the things that are dying or broken around you right now. Death is there: from a loved one dying to church decisions with which we disagree to international losses and griefs. In any of these sorts of situations, would you also consider this as true, that while there’s death, there’s hope? Hope for new life, for something new. Hope for the present and future.
Jesus’ death is the death that gives us hope in the middle of our sin and related struggles. In Robin Mann’s song ‘May We Be One’ comes this wonderful truth: ‘Dying our death he restores our life; heaven has begun, he makes us one!’
God of the living and the dead: through Jesus, fill us with new hope every day, even in the face of our dying. Amen.
Tim is a recently retired LCANZ pastor. He enjoys spending time with family, connecting with neighbours and gardening. This is the season of flowers: beautiful irises, anemones, proteas, leucodendrons and leucospermums – and roses! They all give witness to God’s glory and grace.
Living in eternity
by Tim Klein
Click here to download your printable verse to carry with you today.
He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive (Luke 20:38).
Read Luke 20:27–38
What an irony, and we can be sure this is not lost on Jesus. Here in Luke 20, the Sadducees, who do not believe in resurrection, ask Jesus a question as if they did believe in resurrection. They are, once again, trying to trap Jesus, and he knows it. Yet Jesus gave them a serious answer: ‘He is not the God of the dead, but of the living, for to him all are alive.’ Where do they go with that eternal wisdom?
And now to us.
We confess in the creeds that we believe in the resurrection of the dead. What Jesus says is significant for us. He calls us ‘children of the resurrection’ (verse 36). He also calls us ‘people of this age’ who marry and are given in marriage (verse 34). As children of the resurrection, we belong to both ages. We live in the context of eternity. We are people of the age to come, where the Lord’s surpassing riches of grace will be fully revealed (Ephesians 2:7). In our brokenness, we live in this hope.
By God’s grace, I am the husband of one wife – but in this age, that could be another story completely (as the Sadducees described). We all know people to whom God has extended grace and gifted a new partner in life.
We all live with the brokenness of sin and its consequences.
To him, even after we die, we are all alive. In the meantime, we all rely on the never-ending mercy and grace of God. Jesus’ death was for you and me. His resurrection informs us that his sacrifice has paid the price for our sinfulness. He forgives – he lives. His life assures us of life as children of resurrection: here and now, and into eternity.
Because he lives, I can face tomorrow,
Because he lives, all fear is gone;
Because I know he holds the future,
And life is worth the living, just because he lives.
–Because he lives by William and Gloria Gaither, 1971, Gaither Music Company
Father, in Jesus’ name, I praise you for all you have done. Keep my eyes fixed on you. Keep hope alive – even when I am caught up in sin. Thank you for your mercy and grace and for the new things you are doing in my life. Amen.
Tim is a recently retired LCANZ pastor. He enjoys spending time with family, connecting with neighbours and gardening. This is the season of flowers: beautiful irises, anemones, proteas, leucodendrons and leucospermums – and roses! They all give witness to God’s glory and grace.