Not Yet... Not Ever?

Mark 11:11-14, 19-21

And Jesus entered into Jerusalem and Jesus went into the temple: and when he had looked round about upon all things, and now the eventide was come, he went out unto Bethany, he was hungry: And seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came, if haply he might find any thing thereon: and when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves; for the time of figs was not yet. And Jesus answered and said unto it, No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever. And His disciples heard it.

And when the even was come, he went out of the city. And in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots. And Peter calling to remembrance saith unto him, Master, behold, the fig tree which thou cursedst is withered away.

Fruit. It is one of the most amazing foods God has blessed us with. We have such a variety, and all are good. Rarely will you encounter someone who thinks such and such fruit is not good to taste. All fruit is good. At least in my opinion. Here we have a situation where by Jesus Christ is cursing a fig tree. Why did he do it? Was He trying to teach them about the power of faith and the spoken word, absolutely. We discover that in the following 22nd and 23rd verses. However, in this context of what I am trying to convey, I want to show you another side to this scripture above. In the gospel of John, the 15th chapter you find Jesus teaching his disciples about relationship with God and the significance of being always connected to God. He says in the 15th chapter verse 2 that every branch in Him beareth fruit. God expects us to bear fruit if we abide in Him. In life, from a practical standpoint it really is the same in the sense that we grow and mature physically, emotionally, psychologically, we produce "fruit" which serves as signs of a person's growth and development. Christ inspects this particular fig tree which appears to have growth because of the leaves. Yet, when he takes a closer look there is no fruit to be seen. There is not even a bud. Now its important to realize that Christ at this point and time went to the fig with a purpose to fulfill his natural hunger. He took advantage of the situation to show his disciples not only the power of the spoken word in faith but that Christ expects a fig tree to produce figs. Since the usefulness was not available to Him at that point, He cursed the fig tree and said no man will eat of any fruit it may perhaps would produced later on. This tells me that no matter how many leaves (outside appearances) appear, its the fruit or the (heart) that Christ is concerned about. Could it be that in ministry as well in life we can outlive our usefulness if Christ sees our inability to produce fruit (signs that we are his)? Its something to think about. We must be more diligent in kingdom service and in our personal lives because we dont when Christ is going to come to us and look for some fruit to draw from. There is so much more to this but suffice in this forum to say that if we do not examine ourselves, we can face a greater and critical examination from Him who sits high and looks low. Think about what kind of fruit we are producing. Is it beneficial to Christ or self serving or worse non existent. May we always have good fruit to give to the Master.