More Time, More Grace, More Growth
Preacher: The Rev. Andrew Van Kirk
Scripture: Luke 13:1-9
Jesus tells a story about a fig tree that hasn’t produced fruit for three years. It’s a story about time, about patience, and about grace. But it’s also a story with urgency.
We all live somewhere between these two fig trees: the shriveled one on the side of the road that Jesus curses when it bears no fruit, and the one in the parable, spared for just a little longer, with the gardener pleading, “Let me give it one more year.”
The message is clear—our lives are meant to bear fruit. And fruitfulness isn’t about perfection or performance. It’s about orientation. Like a solar panel needs to face the sun, our lives need to be oriented toward God. That’s what repentance is: turning, reorienting, facing the one who gives life.
We can’t control how much time we have. But we do have today. And today, we are offered grace. Today, we are invited to reorient. To let the Gardener dig around us, nourish us, and invite us back to fruitfulness.
Jesus leaves the parable open-ended because we are writing the ending. Will we turn toward him? Will we bear the fruit we were made for?
Reflection Questions
Where in your life are you facing away from God, seeking life elsewhere?
What is one way you can reorient your heart toward God this week?
What kind of fruit is God inviting you to bear in this season?
Have you been putting off repentance or change, assuming you’ll get around to it later?
How does it feel to know that God is always biased toward grace—and still calling you to respond?
