Bearing fruit?
by Anne Hansen
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Jesus said: ‘If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer’ (Matthew 21:22).
Read Matthew 21:18–22
When I left Loxton, South Australia, I took with me a big rhubarb plant, which had provided me through the years with lovely rhubarb pies, stewed rhubarb and rhubarb yeast cake. It produced abundantly. I dug it up and potted it. When arriving in Noosa, Queensland, I made a lovely new raised garden bed, planted my rhubarb, fed it, watered it regularly and covered it from the digging bush turkeys. It did well for a while and then stopped producing the lovely leaves. I tried giving it more attention, but to no avail … it perished! I wondered what had caused it to die, but I dug up the roots and the plant to rework the soil when I discovered the source of the death. Huge white grubs were chomping on my rhubarb’s roots. The foundation of the plant was literally being eaten.
I couldn’t help but think of my rhubarb when reading through the miracle of Jesus in Matthew 21:18–22. The roots and foundation were gone. There was nothing that could now give it sustenance to produce fruity stems. Jesus discovered this with a fig tree. One thing about a fig tree: if it has leaves, it should have fruit. Jesus wanted some breakfast, as he was hungry, but as there were no figs, he cursed the tree, and immediately it withered. The disciples were amazed!
Faith and trust are the roots and foundation of being a disciple of Jesus. He tells us that even a small amount of faith can move a mountain or wither a fig tree. It is very easy as we live and move through our lives to have this faith and trust eaten away and eroded, and doubts begin to creep in. No matter how much we water and feed our faith – if we doubt that Jesus is Lord – our faith and lives will not produce the fruit that God wants us to: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
Belief comes from faith and trust!
Merciful God, grow faith in my life. Help me believe you always and know you are the Lord of my life. In you, I trust. Amen.
Anne Hansen has worked as the Lutheran Tract Mission Development Officer for 19 years. She is married to Pastor Mark Hansen (who serves in Noosa Qld), and they have three grown children – Jonah, Christian and Emma. Previously, Anne was a Lutheran school teacher, having taught at Good Shepherd Lutheran in Noosa Qld, St Marks in Mount Barker SA, and Golden Grove Lutheran School in SA. Anne says she loves serving Jesus! Her other roles have included pastor’s kid, Lutheran Youth of South Australia (LYSA) president, Lutheran Youth Encounter (USA) events director, nanny in Wales, backpacker through Europe, puppeteer, musician (touring the USA for two years), Know Your Bible (KYB) leader, Mainly Music leader and children’s ministry leader.
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