Fig Trees & Christians

I heard a preacher yesterday make a comment about Jesus and the fig tree He cursed that got me to thinking. If you're not familiar with the story it is found in Mark 11:12-14, basically Jesus and His disciples are going to Jerusalem from Bethany and He got hungry. Okay, here's a little side note, Jesus got hungry because He was living on Earth as a man, and men get hungry. Sometimes people see Jesus only as God, and they miss the fact that He was here as a man to show us how to live as men (& women too).

What is interesting is that He assumes that there will be some figs to eat because He saw that the tree had leaves on it. The fruit on a fig tree shows up at the same time as the leaves apparently. But once there He finds that it is not quite the season for figs, as there are none there. He goes on to talk to the fig tree, and says, "No one will eat fruit from you ever again." Does anyone else find this interesting? I mean I talk to things when they don't go my way, and it appears that Jesus did too.

Now here is the interesting thing that I got yesterday. That fig tree can be representative of a Christian's life. Just as Jesus thought the fig tree would have fruit based on a casual observance of it, He too may think that we are bearing fruit based on what we say and how we look. The only problem is that a lot of times once you begin to listen to the Christian talk you realize that there is no fruit there.

Look at Matthew 7:18 - 20 "A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them." Jesus is talking about the fruit of the Christian life in this passage of Scripture; trees either bear good or bad fruit. And before you think I'm going to say we need to do more to make Jesus like us better, that is not where I'm going at all. We can do nothing to make Jesus like us any better than He does already, He loves us and we can't make Him love us any better by anything that we might or might not do.

There is a difference between being a believer in Christ and being a disciple of Christ. Bearing good fruit is a product of the life of a disciple, where bearing bad fruit is the life of someone who is just a believer in Christ. The sad state I think is that so many people think that believing in Jesus is the end all of the experience, and they have been duped by the enemy.

What are we allowing others to see in our lives? Are they seeing leaves with the hope and expectation of enjoying some of its fruit only to find, as Jesus did, that there is no substance there? When we walk the life of a Christian, it is not just on Sundays and Wednesdays, it is suppose to be every day. Walking, talking and fellowshipping with the Lord so much that the only fruit we bear is the good that can help and satisfy our fellow man.

I don't know about you, but I don't want Jesus to walk up to me expecting to find fruit and only see leaves there. Get 'em up folks, we've got a work to do and a devil to whip!