Romancing The Rock

“What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’

“‘I will not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went.

“Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but he did not go.

“Which of the two did what his father wanted?”

“The first,” they answered. [Matthew 21:28-31 NIV]

Photo by Kiril Havezov

This was a parable told by Jesus to the chief priests who were always trying to trap Him with words and tricky questions. With this short story, Jesus got straight to the heart of the priests’ problem. They acted out their faith and were pious and religious, but on the inside, they were just as rebellious as the thief rotting in prison.

It is not enough to give lip service to our faith. We can talk the talk till the sun sets for the last time, but if we don’t walk the walk, we’ve got nothing. We can debate doctrine and boast of our beliefs all we like, but if we aren’t doing the simple things like feeding the hungry, reaching out to the lost, our words are less than useless.

Photo by SP Veres

Jesus said we must bear fruit, or we are of no use to Him. “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes  so that it will be even more fruitful.” [John 15:1-2 NIV]

I don’t know about you, but I don’t want my words to be like hot air, achieving nothing. I want to live what I believe, practice what I preach and let my acts do the talking.