The fog tree lesson is sobering to think about for a perennial application. Fruitfulness is far more than looking good. Playing the game of being a Christian is different than following Christ. I’ve grown up with legalism and a checklist of expectations. All of those practices can be okay but if there is no fruit born out of the practice, it’s pointless. Jesus’s comments to the tree and about the tree demonstrate the kingdom’s reality despite what looks good.
“The great news of God’s revelation is not simply that God exists, but also that God is actively present. Our God is a God who cares, heals, guides, directs, challenges, confronts, corrects, and forms us. God is a God who wants to lead us closer to the full realization of our lionhearted humanity, if you will. To be obedient means to be constantly attentive to this active presence and to allow God, who is only love, to be the source as well as the goal of all we think, say, and do.”
“Growing in faith requires a growing attentiveness to perceive where God is active and to where we are being led. ” - excerpt, Spiritual Direction by Henri Nouwen
“The story of the fig tree is told as a parable about the temple. The temple, symbolizing the nation as the people of God, gave the appearance of bearing fruit. Yet neither the temple nor the nation bore the fruit God desired. They failed to live the ways of God, i.e., the ways of the kingdom Jesus proclaimed. Instead, they followed the hierarchal, power-over ways of the world.” - Excerpt, Following Jesus: Discipleship in the Gospel of Mark by Steve Langford
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