How can you and I avoid the fig tree problem? Could we be good church attendees, read the Bible, pray that our agenda works out, and still be judged as having a pointless religion? The fig tree lesson sounds like James, teaching in his letter that we need to pay attention to being and doing what we believe to be true. I can easily over think my actions and words, wondering if I’ve done the right thing. But I’m trying to remind myself to be present in and with His presence, allowing the Holy Spirit to lead, letting Him take care of the results.
“Only avid discipleship to Christ through the Spirit brings the inward transformation of thought, feeling and character that “cleans the inside of the cup” (Matt. 23:25) and “makes the tree good” (Matt. 12:33). As we study with Jesus we increasingly become on the inside — with “the Father who is in secret” (Matt 6:6) — exactly what we are on the outside, where actions and moods and attitudes visibly play over our body alive in its social context. An amazing simplicity will take over our lives — a simplicity that is really just transparency.” - Dallas Willard
“The first understanding is fruitlessness, the issue of the fig tree and the temple. Fruitlessness is the result of a life shaped by the yeast of the Pharisees and Herod, that is, the hierarchal, power-over thinking of the world. The attitudes and actions of the disciples in the previous section reflected this kind of thinking. Faith expressed in prayer is the way to move beyond such fruitlessness in our own lives. Such prayer opens us to God and the work of God in our lives. It allows the Spirit to work, transforming our thinking, teaching us the ways of God and of the kingdom, cultivating a servant spirit within us.” - Excerpt, Following Jesus: Discipleship in the Gospel of Mark by Steve Langford
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