And, noticing a solitary fig tree by the road-side, he went up to it, but found nothing on it but leaves. So he said to it: "Never again shall fruit be gathered off you." And suddenly the fruit tree withered up.
It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you, and I appointed you to go and bear fruit--fruit that should remain, so that the Father might grant you whatever you ask in my Name.
I left nothing undone to show you that, laboring as I labored, you ought to help the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he said himself--'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'"
Let the man who steals steal no longer, but rather let him toil with his hands at honest work, so that he may have something to share with any one in want.
It is not that I am anxious for your gifts, but I am anxious to see the abundant return that will be placed to your account. I have enough of everything, and to spare.
Then you will live lives worthy of the Master, and so please God in every way. Your lives will be fruitful in every kind of good action, and your characters will grow through a fuller knowledge of God;
You will not have forgotten, Brothers, our labor and toil. Night and day we used to work at our trades, so as not be a burden to any of you, while we proclaimed to you God's Good News.
Nor did we eat any one's bread without paying for it. Night and day, laboring and toiling, we used to work at our trades, so as not to be a burden upon any of you.
How true that saying is! And it is on these subjects that I desire you to lay especial stress, so that those who have learned to trust in God may be careful to devote themselves to doing good. Such subjects are excellent in themselves, and of real use to mankind.
For, when these virtues are yours, in increasing measure, they prevent your being indifferent to, or destitute of, a fuller knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.