Living the Evangelical life-
“The times are bad! The times are troublesome! This is what humans say. But, we are our times. Let us live well and our times will be good. Such as we are, such are our times.”
Saint Augustine of Hippo.
That quote, now over 1500 years old, has such a contemporary ring to it. One could have substituted Augustine’s name with anyone’s name of the last 2 decades and no one would have thought it odd. If it had been attributed to Mother Theresa, John Paul II, or the Dalai Lama; we would have not given it a second thought; but the question arises, “What is it to live well?”
Luke 13:6-9
6 He also spoke this parable: “A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. 7 Then he said to the keeper of his vineyard, ‘Look, for three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree and find none. Cut it down; why does it use up the ground?’ 8 But he answered and said to him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and fertilize it. 9 And if it bears fruit, well. But if not, after that[a] you can cut it down.’
To the ancient mind, living well was like being happy or blessed; it was far less a matter of how we felt and more about how our lives filled the expectation of its purpose. Like the fig tree in the parable, our lives were meant to bear fruit. The purpose of the tree was to bear fruit, fruit to be used for food and enjoyment; shade and shelter for us and for the creatures of the world. It also has the purpose of reproducing itself to create other trees to replenish the land and continue the mission of the tree.
When we aren’t completing the mission of our lives, times are bad. There is no food, shade, shelter, or regeneration. In short, there is famine and barrenness. We speak in western culture about living the ‘good’ life, but is that the same thing? Is having fruit and leaves all that we are about? The Westminster Short Catechism eloquently explains man's purpose:
Q. What is the chief end of man?
A. Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever.
No, the things we amass and produce are secondary products. Our purpose is not to merely give fruit and shade, as important as they are, our purpose is to glorify God in our beauty and our ‘treeness’. Our purpose is to be what God created us to be, and ultimately what He’s recreating us to be. . . the likeness of His Son. If we allow God to form Christ in us, the hope of glory; imagine our world, with kindness and cooperation, grace and peace, health and restoration. Then there would be fruit and leaves for sustenance and shelter. we will enjoy God and He will enjoy us. Times will be good.
You can reach me at evangelicaliving@live.com and get updates on Twitter by following captequinox.
Examiner’s Twitter name for the Religion and Spirituality Channel is examinereligion.
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