People will get sick spiritually and die from the sickness if they don’t eat and drink the word of God. Equally, they will be full of life when they are close to the word of God and listen to it frequently.
When do trees need nutrition the most while they are growing? It’s the final step when their fruits are ripening. When the fruits are small, they don’t need lots of nutrition. However, when the fruits get bigger, the tree needs more nutrition. Likewise, you long for the life of faith when you grow up. So, you should know your faith is mature when you are eager for the life of faith.
Our life of faith must continue until the day the Lord comes again, so that it matures and bears fruit.
But if the fruit falls before it ripens, it doesn’t need sap from the roots. This is called Fruit Drop. That means the fruit fell before the farmer picked it although the farmer should pick it after it ripened. You must not lose the faith like the fruit drop before the Lord comes again. Your faith has to ripen right for time of harvest so that the Lord can pick the good fruit from you.
Even though the fruit doesn’t seem to grow well, it is growing if its thirst to grow endures. But if there is no thirst, then it has ripened and fallen too early while it was growing. When our thirst ends, this must be the day when we go to heaven at the end of our life or the Lord comes to take us. Until then, we must grow abundantly with a constant holy thirst.
A living tree grows well by absorbing nutrition from water and fertilizer whenever they are given. But for a dead tree, its leaves will turn yellow and dry no matter how much you water it. Likewise, those who don’t feel thirst because they are dull spiritually can’t accept the sermon that is full of grace so their fruits are gradually getting dried up.
Pastor Seok-Jeon Yoon
Extracted from Yonsei Newspaper #586(August 4, 2018)
