I just finished cutting my
hay. It was unusually thick and tall this year. All except for one
little patch which I forgot to fertilize. As I noticed the difference
between the quality of the hay in the field that had been fertilized and that
which had not been fertilized, I drew an analogy. The question that came
to my mind is: Why is church attendance important? It is important
so we can be healthier, stronger, maybe even thicker (especially if we keep
going to Steve's for fellowship dinnersJ) Christians. Matt has been doing a great job providing
nutrients to help us to grow in his sermon series. It is also important
for us to come together to encourage one another (Heb. 10:24-25). Most of
us have faced the challenges and difficulties of life at one time or another
which you may now be encountering. We can support each other in these
struggles (financial, family, loss of loved ones, illness, job loss,
etc.)
In Luke 13:6 Jesus tells a story
about a farmer who planted a fig tree and came looking for fruit on it for
three years without finding any. He told his groundskeeper to cut it down
because it was wasting space. But the compassionate
groundskeeper said "I'll dig around it and put in fertilizer—then if it
doesn't bear fruit next year I'll cut it down." This tree apparently
put on leaves and looked to be healthy every year—it just wasn't
productive. I think this story points out God's compassion in giving us
another chance to be as productive (serving, bearing fruit) as we can. It
also warns of a day when "if we continue to be useless" we will
not get another chance. So, See you Sunday?
Alan
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