Skip to main content

Works and Fruitfulness

Have you ever noticed Jesus invited the Pharisees to judge His works? Jesus had performed known miracles which created quite the following.  In John 10 the Jews asked Him to tell them plainly if He was the Messiah. Instead of responding to their request Jesus referenced His works.


I love this because Jesus understood all the types of proof people needed to accept Him. Feelers needed to encounter His love, the more intellectual types needed works, the sick needed healing, the lonely needed friendship, the demon possessed needed deliverance and on and on. He provided assurances of His deity to every aspect of human need and doubt. 


Jesus again referenced His works for the imprisoned John the Baptist.  He offered works as evidence of His supremacy but warned not to be offended by them. How can we be offended by the works of God? His works are not for our agendas but for His glory.


What of our works?


God calls us to be fruitful.  Fruitfulness is about identity, being connected to the source of life, and discipline. 


Jesus cursed the fig tree for not being fruitful. The fig is literally the identity of the tree. Debates rage in regard to whether or not figs were in season. Mark 11:13 clearly started, "it was not the season for figs." 


The first Psalm paints a picture of what it looks like to be connected to the true source of life. Psalm 1:3 promises to those who delight in the law of the Lord, "will be like a tree firmly planted and fed by the streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season; its leaf does not wither; and whatever he does, he prospers and comes to maturity." (AMP)


"Its season" and "comes to maturity" sounds like timing. So why did Jesus curse the fig tree for not being fruitful out of season?


Perhaps the answer lies in the beginning of both narratives. Both state, "He was hungry. "


How does your perspective change knowing Jesus' works are not for your purposes but to glorify God and that your fruitfulness is to satisfy Jesus? 


Jesus does not wish to judge our works but to be filled by our fruits. I don't know what that does to you but it melts perfectionism, comparison, and fear right off of me!


We still need to address the cursed fig tree. The promises of Psalm 1 are for those who delight in the law. We know Jesus did not come to abolish the law but is the fulfillment of the law. Yet Jesus birthed the age of Grace. We need God's precepts to be fruitful in season but His grace to be fruitful out of season. 


His law and His grace actively at work in our lives does wonders in and through us. For us to balance the opposing forces of the law and grace takes discipline. 


We need discipline to get up early so that we have enough time to not just read but delight in scripture.  We need discipline to supernaturally connect with grace when we perceive our unworthiness. 


Of identity, the law, grace, and discipline to what do you easily connect? Which connections are more challenging for you?


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Revisting: If I Were a Bird & The Season of the Ox

Today I'm revisting two posts from June of this year. My regular devotional reading has me back in Ezekiel and back to the four living creatures. With the Hebrew calendar ending in September, today was the first day I asked the Lord for my word for this upcoming Hebrew year. All things considered, I felt it necessary to revist these posts. Now, I know of at least one dream that was not from the Lord. I'm not sure I am done learning about the ox, but I've learned a little.  If I were a Bird Recently I had three separate people, in three distinct settings begin a thought with, "If I were a bird."  Bizarre, right? At the first comment, I began to joyfully hear Nelly Furtado's "I'm Like a Bird" song in my head. By the third comment, in a matter of just forty-eight hours, I was curious. I could not recall ever hearing anyone share such a thought before, and then to have a few in a short matter of time had me wondering. Seemed either an odd coincidence...
Post a Comment
Read more

Revisting: Wisdom & Authority

Today we are revisting a post from August 18th, 2023. How important it is for each of us to rightly balance wisdom and authority in our own lives. That balance becomes more crucially necessary in marriage. Wisdom & Authority  My husband and I had our routine check-ups this week. He is an emergency room nurse and promptly schedules all of our appointments. For two decades of my adult life, I took care of these matters myself. His planning is a welcome change in married life. He is also handy and takes immaculate care of our yard. Really I won the husband lottery because he also cooks, cleans, and is good at basically everything.   Not that he does everything. We share a fairly even distribution of responsibilities in running our household and raising our daughter. I may not be handy, but I was a responsible homeowner before we met. As someone who left home at 17 and married at 37, I learned how to take care of things on my own, but life is better together. Both my husb...
Post a Comment
Read more

Revisting: Never Ignore

Today, we are revisting a post from July 13, 2023. One thing we can count on is changing emotions. One day we deal with intense anger, the next extreme apathy. Our emotions may not be wise, but they are telling. Never Ignore I came cruising into my day refreshed and ready to go. Then, I experienced anger. Someone's misinformation inconvenienced my easy, breezy day.  Anger is one of those emotions I find less becoming than others. I was trying to calm myself down when Holy Spirit reminded me that I was not designed to reconcile my emotions on my own. In the past, I have fallen prey to ignoring and stuffing my emotions, but nowadays, I am more likely to try and reconcile my emotions on my own. Perhaps when I have "figured out" what needs to change, I then might go to God to request said changes. Today, I managed to be reminded that God likes us to come to Him raw. In the heat of anger or depths of despair, He wants to be invited into what we are feeling, thinking, and exper...
Post a Comment
Read more