Now the next day, when they had come out from Bethany, He was hungry. 13 And seeing from afar a fig tree having leaves, He went to see if perhaps He would find something on it. When He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. 14 In response Jesus said to it, “Let no one eat fruit from you ever again.” And His disciples heard [it].

– Mark 11:12-14 (NKJV)

There is a difference between growth and fruit. This tree was growing and it had all the signs of life, but it was fruitless. The key to understanding this passage is in the “leaves.” Usually the fruit and the leaves grow together on a fig tree. So to see a tree with leaves, even if it is a little early is to see a tree that is advertising fruit. However something is wrong with this fig tree, it advertises that it is healthy and growing and even a month ahead of schedule, but it really isn’t all that it seems to be, because it doesn’t have any fruit. So Jesus curses the tree to be… fruitless.

So what can we take away from that? In our culture we like to tell everyone about how “busy” we are. We might be tempted to think that our “busyness” makes it look like we are doing something or we are important, but there is a difference between being busy and being productive. Busy just means activity, productive means that activity is leading so sort of results. The type of results we want to get from spiritual activity is that our character would be shaped more into the image of Christ and that our lives would exhibit the fruit of the Spirit.

There are some individuals I have noticed that are good about being busy. You can see it in their calendar, they’ve got lots of stuff to do and most of it looks good. So from the outside looking in you could say that they are full of life and maybe even they are growing… but are they producing fruit?

Today my take away was to reexamine my life and my activities as it concerns my spiritual growth. I don’t want to just be busy, I want to be productive. I don’t want to be entertained by the word of God, I want to be changed by the word of God.

Father, We love you and want to grow in knowledge of you and your word. Help us to be fruitful Christians. We want to see the evidence of your work in our lives. Let us not just be those who are busy but to be those who are changed by your grace so that our lives reflect you more and more each day. Give us discernment as we apply your word to our lives. In Jesus Name, Amen.