Harvest Yourself

Colossians 1: 9-10 ...We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives, so that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God... A grandmother friend complained that one of her grands did not send thank you cards. Not our Audrey. During her sophomore year, she received a goodies box from us at the University of Geogia with a $100 check in it. On the front of her gorgeous thank you card she placed a quotation from the Talmud: “Every blade of grass has its angel that bends over it and whispers, ‘Grow, Grow’!” “As you bear fruit and as you grow.” Hear Jesus on this. “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and found none. So he said to the gardener, ‘See here! For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and still I find none. Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the soil?’ He replied, ‘Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it. If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut down’” (Luke 13:6-9). What can these words mean but this: Underliving life is simply not a Christian option. Uselessness is challenged. Fruitlessness is confronted. Christ calls you to be a conduit, not a catch basin. Jesus lived with an unmistakable urgency about life. Seriousness is in, casualness out. He came looking for fruit. You cannot hear that imperative of Jesus, “Cut it down,” and slumber to the backyard for another game of badminton. “Grace” is one of God’s most beautiful words. But Grace never meant doing nothing. To paraphrase Bonhoeffer, “It is grace because it demands so much, and it demands so much because it is grace.” Seriously! What if God wakes you from your sleep this very night and says in indisputable language, “You have one more year.” Wouldn’t you spend the next 365 days cultivating your life, giving it lots of air and sun for fruit-bearing? Wouldn’t you dig and moisten the soil of your life so you could bless somebody? Wouldn’t you love God more by serving those nearby who are afraid and suffer? Wouldn’t you harvest your “one wild and precious life” by doing justice and loving mercy? Each of us owes to someone else the decisive turning point in our lives. Remember that name today “if but for that name” you would not be where you are today. Be that name. Prayer Holy One, help me to cultivate my life. Harvest my gifts, my acts of mercy, and my money. Give them to the fearful, the lonely, the poor, and the hurting. Amen This devotion was written by Buddy Shurden and read by Chuck Warnock. Grace for All is a daily devotional podcast produced by the members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. With these devotionals, we want to remind listeners on a daily basis of the love and grace that God extends to all human beings, no matter their location, status, or condition in life. If you would like to respond to these devotionals in any way, we would enjoy hearing from you. Our email address is: podcasts@1stchurch.org. First United Methodist Church is a lively, spirit-filled congregation whose goal is to spread the message of love and grace into our community and throughout the world. We are located on the web at https://1stchurch.org/.