Bible Society of South Africa
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Grow a Spiritual Garden
Grow a Spiritual Garden – Day 3

Grow a Spiritual Garden – Day 3

Pave your garden with good deeds.

Bible text(s)

Luke 13

The Parable of the Unfruitful Fig Tree

6Then Jesus told them this parable: “There was once a man who had a fig tree growing in his vineyard. He went looking for figs on it but found none. 7So he said to his gardener, ‘Look, for three years I have been coming here looking for figs on this fig tree, and I haven't found any. Cut it down! Why should it go on using up the soil?’ 8But the gardener answered, ‘Leave it alone, sir, just one more year; I will dig round it and put in some manure. 9Then if the tree bears figs next year, so much the better; if not, then you can have it cut down.’ ”

Luke 13:6-9GNBOpen in Bible reader

The old saying goes, that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. If this were true, then we might just as well give up right now at the start of a new year. But what if the opposite were true? What if, by the grace of God, the way to heaven was paved with good intentions transformed into good deeds? What a change that would be!

Perhaps we should think in more practical terms and more long term about changing the way we live. Here are a few suggestions.

  • Make the world a better place to live in. There are many ways to do this. Plant a tree, give your undivided attention to a needy person, apologise when you’ve hurt or offended someone in word or deed; try not to gossip or make negative remarks about people who are not like you for one full day.
  • Complete the good work begun by others. That is how countless service organisations such as the Red Cross, orphanages, homes for terminally ill patients, and hundreds of others continue to survive.
  • Stop blaming others for everything that goes wrong in society.
  • Live the way you want your children to live so that the next generation will be inspired to follow in your footsteps.

What if the lamb and the wolf could truly live side by side and they could be lead by a child? Then we could truly start dreaming dreams about a New Jerusalem where God would live among us. God wants us to be holy as he is holy. We may not be perfect like God, but striving to follow in his footsteps, already puts us on the road to a godlier way of life.

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