The next day when Jesus and His disciples arrived in Bethany, He became hungry and saw a fig tree with leaves, although it was not its season yet. He went to the fig tree expecting fruits, but Jesus did not find fruits. As a result, He cursed the fig tree by saying, "May no one eat fruit from you again!" And His disciples were listening. (Mark 11:12-14). The importance of this story is that the fig tree represents the nation of Israel. The unique thing about the fig tree was that it had leaves even though it was not in its season. Normally, a fig tree will not have many leaves when it is not in its season. However, this particular fig tree had many leaves, so people, including Jesus, would expect that the fig tree had fruits even when it was not in its season.
The interpretation of this fig tree is that the nation of Israel, especially the religious leaders, pretended to be full of leaves when in reality, it didn't have any spiritual truth. When Jesus looked at the people of Israel, it seemed that they were closed to God because they practiced their religious traditions, but they were not closed to Jesus at all because they rejected Him as their Lord and Savior. And because they pretended that they had spiritual fruits, Jesus judged them. The lesson we can have in this lesson is that we need to examine our hearts if we truly have the heart to believe and follow Jesus. The reason is that we cannot pretend our relationship with God. We cannot say we believe in Jesus but live as if we do not know Him.
Our Heavenly Father knows if our hearts are surrendered to Him or not. We cannot live for God and live for ourselves or this world. We must choose how we should live our lives, for time is important. Let us choose this day to live for God so we may bear spiritual fruits.
Ask yourself these questions: How am I living my faith in Jesus? Am I totally surrendered to Jesus, or am I still living for myself and this world?
Write down all the worries you face today and lift them up to God.
Prayer:
Father in Heaven, may you continue to change my heart and make me the person you want to be. Please forgive me if I have been pretending my relationship with you. Please help me to be real in my walk with you so that I may continue to grow in my spiritual walk and bear fruit. In Your name Jesus, I pray. Amen.