6* So we are always courageous, although we know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, 7for we walk by faith, not by sight. 8Yet we are courageous, and we would rather leave the body and go home to the Lord.e 9Therefore, we aspire to please him, whether we are at home or away. 10For we must all appear* before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive recompense, according to what he did in the body, whether good or evil.f
The Parable of the Barren Fig Tree.* 6c And he told them this parable: “There once was a person who had a fig tree planted in his orchard, and when he came in search of fruit on it but found none, 7he said to the gardener, ‘For three years now I have come in search of fruit on this fig tree but have found none. [So] cut it down. Why should it exhaust the soil?’ 8He said to him in reply, ‘Sir, leave it for this year also, and I shall cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it; 9it may bear fruit in the future. If not you can cut it down.’”