Devotion - Monday, September 19

Mark 11 contains one of the stories that slows me every time I read it. Jesus and his disciples are coming from Bethany. They see a fig tree in leaf. They are hungry. Jesus goes over to the tree, but finds no figs. This is understandable. The text tell us, "It was not the season for figs."

Even so, Jesus says to the tree, "May no one ever eat fruit from you again."

The next day, as they are passing by the same tree, the disciples see that the tree is withered.

There are two ways to approach this parable. One is an encouragement not to allow ourselves to apportion "times" for our response to God. As a child I was told to "put on my Sunday behavior" as if I were act differently on Sunday than other days of the week. Perhaps you have altered your behavior when the Preacher walked into the room.

There is no season devoid of our devotion. There are no times in which we are to be attentive to God; and seasons when we are free to do as we choose.

A second way to approach this text is to place it in the larger context. After this incident, Jesus goes on to speak of prayer and the ability of God's followers to "say to the mountain, 'Be taken up and cast into the sea.'" The disciples had been impressed that a few words spoken to a fig tree caused such great change; Jesus speaks of even greater change coming as a result of the prayers of his followers.

The change, desired by Christ and sought by his followers, will not happen if we do not devote our full selves to the endeavor. We cannot pay lip service to God on Sunday, on Monday turn our attention to other pursuits, and then expect everything to be different. Our devotion to Christ knows no season - it is a constant in our lives.

If you spent an hour yesterday listening to God's Word and joining in prayer with the saints, how much time will you give God today? If you took time yesterday to reflect on God's working in the world, what will you do during this day?

God is committed to remolding the world in a way which reflects the things he considers important. It is not an occasional concern of God's. It needs to be more than a once a week concern for us.