Psalm 94: 11The Lord, He knows the thoughts of people,
that they are a breath.12 Blessed is the man whom You chasten, O Lord,
and teach from Your law,
13 that You may give him rest from the days of adversity,
until a pit is dug for the wicked.
14 For the Lord will not forsake His people;
neither will He abandon His inheritance.
15 But justice shall return to those who are righteous,
and all the upright in heart shall follow it.
Galatians 5: 22- But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let’s not become arrogant, make each other angry, or be jealous of each other.
Luke 13: 1-9 Some who were present on that occasion told Jesus about the Galileans whom Pilate had killed while they were offering sacrifices. 2 He replied, “Do you think the suffering of these Galileans proves that they were more sinful than all the other Galileans? 3 No, I tell you, but unless you change your hearts and lives, you will die just as they did. 4 What about those eighteen people who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them? Do you think that they were more guilty of wrongdoing than everyone else who lives in Jerusalem? 5 No, I tell you, but unless you change your hearts and lives, you will die just as they did.”
6 Jesus told this parable: “A man owned a fig tree planted in his vineyard. He came looking for fruit on it and found none. 7 He said to his gardener, ‘Look, I’ve come looking for fruit on this fig tree for the past three years, and I’ve never found any. Cut it down! Why should it continue depleting the soil’s nutrients?’ 8 The gardener responded, ‘Lord, give it one more year, and I will dig around it and give it fertilizer. 9 Maybe it will produce fruit next year; if not, then you can cut it down.’”
At any occasion we can hear the words: PATIENCE, FORGIVENESS, PENITENCE, GRATEFULNESS, OBEDIENCE – – the most dificil of them may be obedience. We usually think that we are right, we do not like to listen and do what others tell us to do. When we get order from humans, we have to use our brain and heart and decide, if the order is something that leads to a good thing, we cannot be sure of the quality of human orders. But, when we think of the commandments of the Lord, we have no other choice – we have to obey or we go the way of the darkness. In the glory of God we must do what he wants us to do. First we have to do it for ourselves, and than for our sisters and brothers. We have to show them, how it is pleasant and consolating to obey our Lord. No commandment of the Lord will harm somebody, but orders of humans my do, and in this case we must recuse obedience.
Let us examinate the allegory of the fig tree: The owner wanted to cut the tree because of the llack of fruits. Isn´t it the same with some persons that stand still in the middle of the way to god, without giving fruits, in the lack of believe, downhearted ?? Shall we not pray for them and help them to get along, even with few hope to be able to help? Indeed, we should have patience and love for them, because when there is a small glimmer of hope, it is worth to make an efford.
Listen and practice the love of our Lord !! He protects us from the aggression of our enemies. We have to protect our hearts for not to be tempted by evil things that may seem good. Often we think, that somebody is not worth to be good to him, because he insults us with unfriendly words or laughes behind our back. Only god knows why this person behaves badly and we have to be like a true shepherd. When we are followers of Jesus Christ we should run after the lost fellow, try to bring him back on the right way to our Lord, because the tentations of the world are glittering and the eyes are obfuscated – it is often the easier way that is chosen. Everyone of us sometimes has difficulties to find the straight way to god, but we know, that He had already prepared our place besides Him. We are free like birds to choose where we want to go. Let us go STRAIGHT ahead to come to Him.
