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Thursday, October 15, 2009

Are we Fruitful?

"And seeing from afar a fig tree having leaves, He went to see if perhaps He would find something on it. When He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. In response Jesus said to it, 'Let no one eat fruit from you ever again.' And His disciples heard it." (Mark 11: 13,14)

Jesus spied the fig tree from afar , saw leaves on it and drew closer to see if perhaps there was fruit on it as well. I have often wondered why he would do this, since the scripture clearly tells us that it was NOT the season for figs. Jesus knew it wasn't the season, yet he expected to find fruit and upon seeing there wasn't any, he cursed the fig tree from every bearing fruit.

Most likely, this was taking place sometime around March and the leaves were just appearing on the fig tree. Even though it would be about 6 weeks before the actual figs appeared, there is something called 'taqsh' that appears at the time the leaves appear. 'Taqsh' is a precursor to the fruit, or figs, that will come. They are little almond-sized knobs that are green and they are edible. This is what Jesus expected to see. Since the leaves were already on the tree, there should have been some of this fruit as well.

Instead, there was nothing. Only leaves and no evidence of the forerunner to the real fruit that was to come. Since there wasn't any taqsh, Jesus knew that there would be no fruit. The tree was hopeless and fruitless. Therefore, He cursed it.

As Christians, we are called to produce fruit. We were created for this very reason. We need to produce good fruit. Fruit that in turn produces more fruit. When Jesus spies us from afar, He should be able to expect fruit from us. If there isn't any, then we aren't living our lives the way that God intends us to. We aren't living up to the expectation that He has for us. Our lives can be just like that fig tree. Barren, hopeless, fruitless and dying.

There are several things that cause us to be fruitless. Our focus is one of them. We have too many distractions. Too many different things vying for our time and attention. Sometimes we get too busy and so overwhelmed by it all that we tend to focus on the things that are easy. The things that take the least effort. But unfortunately, these things are usually NOT the things of God.

We can get so busy with our day-to-day activities, that we put God on the back burner and leave Him there, unattended.

We absolutely must keep Christ first and foremost in our lives. He has to be THE priority if we are to lead productive, fruit-bearing lives. We must learn to develop tunnel-vision for God. He has to be our focus. He is the one who deserves our undivided attention and we must look to Him for direction in our lives.

When we seek after God, and we seek His presence, we are on the way to living victorious lives and we are on our way to bearing the fruit that will glorify our Lord.

Our lack of faith can also prevent us from being fruitful. We have to learn to trust God in all things in spite of the circumstances. In spite of the things that are stacked against us. We have to ground ourselves in a trust relationship with Him. Trust is the essence of faith. Trust breeds a powerful faith. Trust will enable us to bear the fruit that He requires.

If we keep our focus on Him and we build our trust and faith IN Him, we will be fruitful for the kingdom of God.

We will desire the things that glorify Him. We will desire the things that edify Him. We will bear fruit.

Beth

14 comments:

petrii said...

Beth,
I'm so sorry I haven't been by in a while. Life has been a little crazy in this corner of the world. I am starting to feel better though. One of the Doc's at Mayo called me this evening to check on me. Everything is looking up tonight. I am thankful.

I LOVED this post. Tunnel-vision for Jesus, I'd never thought of it that way.

Wonderful word tonight friend.

Have a Blessed evening,
Dawn

Anonymous said...

Oh my, how I want to produce fruit for my LORD. Being reminded of the 'focusing' and the 'trusting' is just what I needed this night, Beth. Thank you for your encouragement.
love you, ~ linda

Andrea said...

I pray GOD will use me in ALL that I do and say!

Blessings, andrea

Prayer request for my brother in law on arise 2 write.

Loren said...

Beth,

Oh how I pray the I bare fruit for the Lord in ALL that I do and in all that I say every single day!!

This is soo good Beth....I tell my son all the time to 'focus' .....yet I need to remained focused and keep my eyes on Jesus and to trust in HIM at ALL times! keeping that tunnel vision.....

love you Beth, thankyou so much for the rhema word tonight!

Debbie said...

Beth, so good to hear from you, I hope everything is going well in your little part of the world. Thanks for all the prayers for Nathan, he is doing wonderful. I prayed for a miracle, and it came in God's time not mine. Please do keep him in your prayers. Thanks for everything. Debbie

christy rose said...

I want my life to be fruit bearing for the glory of God. And as you posted here today, it is as we keep our focus on Jesus that we remain engrafted in Him and the fruit of His Spirit is birthed in our lives. Amen

Pia said...

Our lack of faith can also prevent us from being fruitful. --- this is so true. everything beautiful stems out from our faith in God. even the most confusing things that we go through is ironed out in His perfect time because we chose to put our faith in Him who is in control.

i want to bear fruit and be used by God and to be who He wanted me to be.

God bless you, beth.

Sue said...

Great post Beth.

selahV said...

Beth, thanks for dropping by one of my sites. Isn't it wonderful when we are rooted in Him that we need only rest in His grace to bear the fruit He wants. Apart from Him, we would be just like that fig tree.

We studied that passage a few weeks ago in S.S. and the teacher brought up how the "fig tree, leaf" was symbolic of Israel and how they had not bore the fruit God wanted. And Jesus was foretelling how Christians would be the first fruit to bear more for the Kingdom of God.

Have you any thoughts on that? selahV

Steph said...

Thank you for your post, it spoke to me! Thank you for stopping by my blog too!

Dontmissyoursunsetlady said...

Beth,

Sorry I have not been by! Thanks for your prayers. Mom is back at work, and doing well! Thank you for the challeging post!

RCUBEs said...

Thank you for reminding us of what we must do for the Lord! God bless you and have a great weekend!

Beth E. said...

"Our lack of faith can also prevent us from being fruitful. We have to learn to trust God in all things in spite of the circumstances. In spite of the things that are stacked against us. We have to ground ourselves in a trust relationship with Him. Trust is the essence of faith. Trust breeds a powerful faith. Trust will enable us to bear the fruit that He requires.

If we keep our focus on Him and we build our trust and faith IN Him, we will be fruitful for the kingdom of God."


This is a message I definitely needed to hear, especially this week. Thank you!

Kathleen said...

I've found that, as I've aged, I long more-and-more to abide in Him. The more time I spend in His presence, the more I desire His will.

What a great inspiration this is, Beth. We women need to be reminded to "be still" so His fruit has time to flourish.

Blessings,
Kathleen