Inspected by Jesus
"If the cause be removed, the effects will cease. If the spring be purified, the waters will be healed, and the barren ground becomes productive." ~ Andrew Fuller 1754 - 1815
One morning as Jesus was returning to Jerusalem he saw a fig tree. Being hungry, He went over to pluck a couple of figs off of it but there were no figs. Only leaves. Then Jesus says this: May you never bear fruit again! (Matt. 21:18-19)
My grandmother had two fig trees in her backyard. I never cared much for figs, but I loved picking them. My grandmother would send my sister and me out with empty gallon ice cream buckets and we filled them as much as we could. Unlike the tree that Jesus encountered, these trees were laden with the fruit. Jesus may have been able to feed the multitudes with her trees!
About twenty years later I was out in the backyard of her house, about the time of the fig extravaganza, and noticed there were no figs. How unusual for these trees. When I asked my grandmother about it she said that it had been a long time since she had been able to go out and care for the trees, fertilizing and watching out for insects.
Last spring this story told by Jesus and my grandmother's fig trees came back to me as I went out to see what was wrong with my crepe myrtle trees. I have one in the front of my house and one in the back. Both have the potential for bearing the most beautiful purple blooms, but last spring, neither were producing anything. Everyone else in the neighborhood has beautiful blooms on their trees... but mine. Mine look rather pitiful.
Upon closer inspection, I noticed that many of the leaves had turned black and if I rubbed my finger on the black area, it would rub off. What I suspected was confirmed. Bugs!
Well, I sprayed them and the blooming began! The Holy Spirit began to speak to me today as I saw another tree that, though it is still winter, has the same black bug on the leaves and I think that without treatment, no fruit will burst forth from it this spring. God reminded me of my grandmother's once fruit laden trees, but reminded me of the fig tree that the Lord had encountered in Matthew 21.
Jesus told his disciples "You did not choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce fruit that will last..." Jesus didn't say that you should bear fruit for a season or two, but that you should begin to bear fruit and that your fruit should remain.
He said in John 15 that He is the vine and we are branches and that if we remain in Him, we will produce much fruit. I took note that in those places, Jesus used the words remain. What He is saying is that if we REMAIN in Him, we will bear fruit that REMAINS. The real relevant word in both scriptures is the word "remain".
What fruit are we to bear? Let's go back to my grandmother's fig trees. The fruit of the fig tree was a fig. The fruit of an apple tree is an apple. The fruit of an orange tree is an orange. Are you sensing a theme here?
The fruit of a Christian is Christ-likeness. That means that we begin to look like the one we are connected to. For proof of this, look in Acts 11:26. It says that the first time people who followed Jesus were called Christians was in Antioch. It says that the believers were called Christians by the people of Antioch BECAUSE they saw these people doing and saying the same things that they had seen and heard Jesus say and do. To the people of Antioch, they looked like Jesus, so they called them Christians, meaning "little Christs".
These early believers were fruitful. They looked like Him and bore the same fruit that He bore in His life.
So imagine me spraying my crepe myrtle down, thinking about my grandmother's fig trees and how barren they had become due to neglect, and my trees that were in danger and no longer bearing fruit (blossoms) because of bugs, when the Holy Spirit begins to teach me about our lives.
It is easy at times to bear fruit but at other times we can neglect our spiritual life and in those seasons, all of the fruit bearing abilities within us dry up. We no longer are getting the proper nourishment to grow. We have bugs on us that are destroying the very life and fruit producing abilities that are within us. What are these?
Neglect happens when we are no longer watchful. We are slumbering. We have let our oil go out. We read the word of God but are not changed by it because we never apply the scriptures to the areas in our lives. We can't remember the last time we memorized a verse much less the last time a scripture really challenged us or changed us. We can't remember the last time that prayer was a joy. We have lost track of the last time we fasted. We couldn't care less about those that are going to Hell around us because we no longer really see the spiritual state of ourselves, much less those around us. And if we did try to witness to someone, we are lacking the "fresh oil" that ignites the words we speak to those around us. And forget praying for others for we stand in such a state of spiritual desolation that we can only call prayer lines... our line feels disconnected.
The problem with neglect is that it can be a long time after it has begun before all of the barrenness of this state settles in. Those around you think you are doing fine but inside you are dry as last year's bird nest.
My grandmother's fig tree bore fruit for about three years after neglect settled in. For three years, although no additional care was given to it, it continued to drain the surrounding soil in order to produce the figs. But after those years, the last stores of nourishment were depleted.
The second area we have to watch out for are bugs. Bugs devour. If you have ever seen a limb in a tree that has a web around it and caterpillars eating away, you know that it is only a matter of days before there will be no leaves left within that web.
Bugs that devour your life spiritually (as well as emotionally and physically) are anger, bitterness, rebellion, un-forgiveness, jealousy, envy, strife, fears, gossip, slander, or rage. The list can go on but those few mentioned above are the ones that most frequently attach themselves to the lives of believers.
If you are careful and keep your life bug free by staying under the fumigating anointing of the Holy Spirit, you will bear fruit. But if not, you may have already noticed that your countenance is beginning to look more like the bug than the Lord.
Why would Jesus go so far as to curse that fig tree? Because it was the season for fruit. It should have been laden with figs, but either neglect or bugs had gotten onto that particular tree, causing it to become barren. It had leaves, but no sustenance.
It is a hard lesson that He put out for all of the people. Remember, He was always telling the people about things relating to the harvest or fruit. They were people of the land who would understand what the application to their life was. For the disciples, this fig tree stood as a warning to watch their lives for signs of fruitlessness.
What is the remedy? Bear fruit. How? Stay attached to the Vine. If you REMAIN in Him, then you will bear fruit that REMAINS. If you do not remain in Him, then the remains of whatever you are hanging around will be what you bear.
Apply the scriptures you read to your life. Forgive. Bless those who curse you. Love your enemies. Treat others as you would have them treat you. Don't judge or be critical. Never gossip or slander. Obey Your Father's commands.
Is that what you really want? Be a God clinger! Let His life force out of you all that defiles and allow the life giving fruit of the Spirit to bring that burst of life back into you today!
Michelle Molina
"If the cause be removed, the effects will cease. If the spring be purified, the waters will be healed, and the barren ground becomes productive." ~ Andrew Fuller 1754 - 1815
One morning as Jesus was returning to Jerusalem he saw a fig tree. Being hungry, He went over to pluck a couple of figs off of it but there were no figs. Only leaves. Then Jesus says this: May you never bear fruit again! (Matt. 21:18-19)
My grandmother had two fig trees in her backyard. I never cared much for figs, but I loved picking them. My grandmother would send my sister and me out with empty gallon ice cream buckets and we filled them as much as we could. Unlike the tree that Jesus encountered, these trees were laden with the fruit. Jesus may have been able to feed the multitudes with her trees!
About twenty years later I was out in the backyard of her house, about the time of the fig extravaganza, and noticed there were no figs. How unusual for these trees. When I asked my grandmother about it she said that it had been a long time since she had been able to go out and care for the trees, fertilizing and watching out for insects.
Last spring this story told by Jesus and my grandmother's fig trees came back to me as I went out to see what was wrong with my crepe myrtle trees. I have one in the front of my house and one in the back. Both have the potential for bearing the most beautiful purple blooms, but last spring, neither were producing anything. Everyone else in the neighborhood has beautiful blooms on their trees... but mine. Mine look rather pitiful.
Upon closer inspection, I noticed that many of the leaves had turned black and if I rubbed my finger on the black area, it would rub off. What I suspected was confirmed. Bugs!
Well, I sprayed them and the blooming began! The Holy Spirit began to speak to me today as I saw another tree that, though it is still winter, has the same black bug on the leaves and I think that without treatment, no fruit will burst forth from it this spring. God reminded me of my grandmother's once fruit laden trees, but reminded me of the fig tree that the Lord had encountered in Matthew 21.
Jesus told his disciples "You did not choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce fruit that will last..." Jesus didn't say that you should bear fruit for a season or two, but that you should begin to bear fruit and that your fruit should remain.
He said in John 15 that He is the vine and we are branches and that if we remain in Him, we will produce much fruit. I took note that in those places, Jesus used the words remain. What He is saying is that if we REMAIN in Him, we will bear fruit that REMAINS. The real relevant word in both scriptures is the word "remain".
What fruit are we to bear? Let's go back to my grandmother's fig trees. The fruit of the fig tree was a fig. The fruit of an apple tree is an apple. The fruit of an orange tree is an orange. Are you sensing a theme here?
The fruit of a Christian is Christ-likeness. That means that we begin to look like the one we are connected to. For proof of this, look in Acts 11:26. It says that the first time people who followed Jesus were called Christians was in Antioch. It says that the believers were called Christians by the people of Antioch BECAUSE they saw these people doing and saying the same things that they had seen and heard Jesus say and do. To the people of Antioch, they looked like Jesus, so they called them Christians, meaning "little Christs".
These early believers were fruitful. They looked like Him and bore the same fruit that He bore in His life.
So imagine me spraying my crepe myrtle down, thinking about my grandmother's fig trees and how barren they had become due to neglect, and my trees that were in danger and no longer bearing fruit (blossoms) because of bugs, when the Holy Spirit begins to teach me about our lives.
It is easy at times to bear fruit but at other times we can neglect our spiritual life and in those seasons, all of the fruit bearing abilities within us dry up. We no longer are getting the proper nourishment to grow. We have bugs on us that are destroying the very life and fruit producing abilities that are within us. What are these?
Neglect happens when we are no longer watchful. We are slumbering. We have let our oil go out. We read the word of God but are not changed by it because we never apply the scriptures to the areas in our lives. We can't remember the last time we memorized a verse much less the last time a scripture really challenged us or changed us. We can't remember the last time that prayer was a joy. We have lost track of the last time we fasted. We couldn't care less about those that are going to Hell around us because we no longer really see the spiritual state of ourselves, much less those around us. And if we did try to witness to someone, we are lacking the "fresh oil" that ignites the words we speak to those around us. And forget praying for others for we stand in such a state of spiritual desolation that we can only call prayer lines... our line feels disconnected.
The problem with neglect is that it can be a long time after it has begun before all of the barrenness of this state settles in. Those around you think you are doing fine but inside you are dry as last year's bird nest.
My grandmother's fig tree bore fruit for about three years after neglect settled in. For three years, although no additional care was given to it, it continued to drain the surrounding soil in order to produce the figs. But after those years, the last stores of nourishment were depleted.
The second area we have to watch out for are bugs. Bugs devour. If you have ever seen a limb in a tree that has a web around it and caterpillars eating away, you know that it is only a matter of days before there will be no leaves left within that web.
Bugs that devour your life spiritually (as well as emotionally and physically) are anger, bitterness, rebellion, un-forgiveness, jealousy, envy, strife, fears, gossip, slander, or rage. The list can go on but those few mentioned above are the ones that most frequently attach themselves to the lives of believers.
If you are careful and keep your life bug free by staying under the fumigating anointing of the Holy Spirit, you will bear fruit. But if not, you may have already noticed that your countenance is beginning to look more like the bug than the Lord.
Why would Jesus go so far as to curse that fig tree? Because it was the season for fruit. It should have been laden with figs, but either neglect or bugs had gotten onto that particular tree, causing it to become barren. It had leaves, but no sustenance.
It is a hard lesson that He put out for all of the people. Remember, He was always telling the people about things relating to the harvest or fruit. They were people of the land who would understand what the application to their life was. For the disciples, this fig tree stood as a warning to watch their lives for signs of fruitlessness.
What is the remedy? Bear fruit. How? Stay attached to the Vine. If you REMAIN in Him, then you will bear fruit that REMAINS. If you do not remain in Him, then the remains of whatever you are hanging around will be what you bear.
Apply the scriptures you read to your life. Forgive. Bless those who curse you. Love your enemies. Treat others as you would have them treat you. Don't judge or be critical. Never gossip or slander. Obey Your Father's commands.
Is that what you really want? Be a God clinger! Let His life force out of you all that defiles and allow the life giving fruit of the Spirit to bring that burst of life back into you today!
Michelle Molina
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