our daily bread
Dexu Xia
Time to Flourish
“Sir,” the man replied, “leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it.” Luke 13:8
Last spring I decided to cut down the rose bush by our back door. In the three years we’d lived in our home, it hadn’t produced many flowers, and its ugly, fruitless branches were now creeping in all directions.
But life got busy, and my gardening plan got delayed. It was just as well—only a few weeks later that rose bush burst into bloom like I’d never seen before. Hundreds of big white flowers, rich in perfume, hung over the back door, flowed into our yard, and showered the ground with beautiful petals.
My rose bush’s revival reminded me of Jesus’s parable of the fig tree in Luke 13:6–9. In Israel, it was customary to give fig trees three years to produce fruit. If they didn’t, they were cut down so the soil could be better used. In Jesus’s story, a gardener asks his boss to give one particular tree a fourth year to produce. In context (vv. 1–5), the parable implies this: The Israelites hadn’t lived as they should, and God could justly judge them. But God is patient and had given extra time for them to turn to Him, be forgiven, and bloom.
God wants all people to flourish and has given extra time so that they can. Whether we are still journeying toward faith or are praying for unbelieving family and friends, His patience is good news for all of us.
I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. (John 15:5).
God has given the world extra time to respond to His offer of forgiveness.
多一点时间
管园的说：“主啊，今年且留着，等我周围掘开土，加上粪。”-路加福音13章8节
去年春天，我本想要砍掉后门的玫瑰花丛。因为三年来，只见它开过零星几朵小花，长不出花苞的枝梗又四处乱窜，杂乱无章，看起来一点儿也不赏心悦目。
当时我因为事务繁忙，便打算迟一些才整顿院子里的花木。然而就在那几个星期的时间，那玫瑰花丛居然开满了大朵的白玫瑰。我看到前所未见的景象：百花绽放、满庭芬芳，还洒了一地美丽的花瓣。
看到玫瑰花丛重拾生命力，令我想到路加福音13章6-9节，耶稣以无花果树所作的比喻。以色列人惯常砍除连续三年都不结果的无花果树，好让土地作更充分的利用。在耶稣的比喻中，园丁请求主人对这棵树再宽限一年。从1-5节可以看出，这个比喻意指以色列人没有遵照上帝的旨意行，悖逆犯罪，上帝本可以立即施行审判，但祂却宽容他们，给他们时间，让他们得以归向祂、得着饶恕，开花结果。
上帝期望所有的人都能得赦免，开花结果，所以祂愿意给我们多一点时间。因此，不论我们是在慕道的路上，或正在为还未信主的家人和朋友代祷，上帝的宽容与忍耐，对我们每个人而言，都是个好消息！
我是葡萄树，你们是枝子；常在我里面的，
我也常在他里面，这人就多结果子。
因为离了我，你们就不能做什么。
（约翰福音15章5节）
上帝给世人多一点时间，可以回应祂的救赎之恩。