Fruits or leaves
Memorise: Being filled with the fruits
of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.
Philippians 1:11
When hungry, a person instinctively makes moves to have
the hunger assuaged, which is normal. I had an experience in my early years
when I had to go get firewood to sell to have money for my basic needs (food
primarily). One day, I got stung by bees after climbing a standing dry tree. I
however refused to come down until I felled dry wood from the tree. I endured
the terrible pain because I knew that no wood to sell meant no food to eat. May
you not be poor on the Name of Jesus. In the morning of a particular day, the
Lord Jesus while returning from Bethany to Jerusalem was hungry; He
needed food. Just at that moment, a fig tree was in sight; hope and expectation
arose in Him. Food for a hungry tummy is
a necessity, a basic one for that matter. However, on getting to the fig tree,
it was all leaf and no fruit. This fig tree had taken so many nutrients from
the ground, only to produce leaves. It failed to fulfil its basic purpose of
bearing fruits.
Today, through Jesus is not physically present and
traversing the land of Judah and Galilee as
He was then, He is alive and still very much hungry for fruit. Howbeit, not for
figs or grapes but for:
(i)
Fruits of righteousness – Philippians 1:11
(ii)
Souls – John 15:16
Just like the fig tree in our reading for today, it is
saddening that rather than Jesus finding the desired fruits on many of His
children, they are merely full of leaves. Such leaves are reminiscent of the
conditions prevailing in the Laodicean
Church (Revelation
3:17-18), which had money and material things to the exclusion of spiritual
substance. Some of us that position, titles, fame and material things. We are
living big, but the fruits that Jesus really desires are lacking. Some of us
have taken so much blessing from Jesus only to consume all on ourselves. We
dress in good attires, live large and have created a niche for ourselves in
company of the who-is-who in high society, all with little or nothing at all in
the area of influencing lives for Jesus. We need to repent, and like the
Laodicean church, consider getting the
true riches of Jesus Christ. The verdict
of Jesus Christ on the fruitless fig tree is frightening. This should be an
example to a leafy but fruitless individual (Luke 13:6-9). In Jesus’ Name, you
will not be marked for cutting down. May you begin to bear fruit to the
satisfaction of the Master henceforth, and the blessing of the fruitful will be
your portion.
Prayer point
Desire to be fruitful and pray to God
for all that is needed to make you fruitful. Also, pray that every force that
works against your fruitfulness should be destroyed by fire.
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