“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.” Luke 13:7 NLT
I am not much of a gardener, never have been, but I’m learning little by little the last few years. Planting a few pepper and tomato plants with my wife and caring for them has been a new experience for me. Of course, I pay particular attention to my variety of hot pepper plants, which weren’t planted until this novice got involved. One thing I do know is that if a plant does not produce its fruit, or very little, it hasn’t performed up to the potential for which it was planted. Now I realize part of the fault falls on the gardener, but I’m still learning.
The same is true for a Christian who has had a spiritual gift planted in them by the heavenly gardener. The Lord God gives a spiritual gift to every believer to be cultivated and grow for service in His church. He is the master gardener and has given us the Holy Spirit, His Word, access to Him through prayer, and encouragement of other Christians to help us reach our full potential in administering our spiritual gifts. However, failure in not producing fruit is not the fault of the master gardener, but the believer in Jesus Christ. Every Christian is responsible to nurture their spiritual lives and grow spiritually with the resources the Lord God has given us.
Jesus told a parable of a barren fig tree in the gospel of Luke. He said, “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. 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.” (Lk.13:6-7 nlt) This is a sad example of many Christians who never mature beyond their initial acceptance of Jesus as savior. The Lord comes looking for fruitful lives but there is no fruit to be found. Their spiritual gifts lie dormant, not nurtured but neglected. It is as if Jesus said in the parable, ‘they are just taking up space in my church.’
The caretaker was told to cut down the tree by the master gardener, but a second chance was given. The Lord God gives each of us, second, third, and even fourth chances. In fact, His grace is limitless. His desire is for us to grow in Him, bearing fruit, and nurture our spiritual gifts. God wants us to live up to our full potential in serving Him in the church and to do that, we must be nurturing the spiritual gifts He has planted in us.
Read: Luke 13:6-9 NLT – Parable of the Barren Fig Tree – Then – Bible Gateway
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