Renewing Faith: Spring Cleaning

Note: You can view this teaching on our YouTube Channel. Our lectionary text this week offered the following account from Jesus’ remembered life:

About this time Jesus was informed that Pilate had murdered some people from Galilee as they were offering sacrifices at the Temple. “Do you think those Galileans were worse sinners than all the other people from Galilee?” Jesus asked. “Is that why they suffered? Not at all! And you will perish, too, unless you repent of your sins and turn to God. And what about the eighteen people who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them? Were they the worst sinners in Jerusalem? No, and I tell you again that unless you repent, you will perish, too.”

Parable of the Barren Fig Tree

Then Jesus told this story: “A man planted a fig tree in his garden and came again and again to see if there was any fruit on it, but he was always disappointed. Finally, he said to his gardener, ‘I’ve waited three years, and there hasn’t been a single fig! Cut it down. It’s just taking up space in the garden.’

“The gardener answered, ‘Sir, give it one more chance. Leave it another year, and I’ll give it special attention and plenty of fertilizer. If we get figs next year, fine. If not, then you can cut it down.’”

There are a couple of take aways here. First, when we see calamity, Jesus warns against trying to make sense of it. Instead, he appears to have the attitude, “life is unpredictable - count on that!” The second takeaway is related to the parable of the fig tree. Don’t focus much on the potential “Judgement Day is coming - get ready to meet your maker!” - that takes us away from what Jesus is really getting at. In short, Jesus is telling his audience to take care of business, and do it now, because you never know how long you have.

I offered a couple of ideas to help us think this through. Kerry Shook wrote a book a decade ago entitled One Month to Live. Wondering how we might priorities our time if we knew we didn’t have much can be very motivating. We would likely not care about some things much, and deeply care about others. Let this exercise do its work on you.

Atomic Habits is a perennial best seller, it seems. A piece of advice from author James Clear is to first ask the question, Who do you want to be? He notes that sometimes we do things because we feel like we should. But are they aligned with who we want to become? Starting with the “who” is really about the “why” behind our choices.

As Christians, we are committed to following Jesus who was all about the Kingdom of God. If we are sincere about our desire to follow Jesus, we may need to find out how Jesus would approach life, values, decisions, etc.

May you do the critical spring cleaning that will help you thrive forward!

Note: Here is is some helpful biblical commentary from SALT