October 24 - John 12:37-50, Mark 11:12-14, Matthew 21:18-22, Mark 11:15-19, Matthew 21:12-17, Luke 19:45-48, Mark 11:20-33, Matthew 21:23-27, Luke 20:1-8

Good morning everyone,

The first thing we read today was, “Even after Jesus had performed so many signs in their presence, they still would not believe in him.” I find that so sad. Yes, it was fulfilling prophecy, but it had to be quite heart breaking for Jesus and those who believed. Right? You know what I am talking about. We all have people in our lives who, despite our many attempts to present the Gospel in a way that will remove the blinders from their eyes, allowing them to see the truth, the light and the way, they still refuse to listen.  I would encourage you to just keep praying for these friends and loved ones. While there is still another minute in the day there is time for them to accept Jesus into their hearts. 

We also read today about Jesus and the fig tree. Now, I am going to be honest with you, years ago when I read this I thought, “What! Why? That poor fig tree,it has no fruit and so it will be cursed. Humph. What’s really going on here?” And so I looked into it. I learned that the cursing of the fig tree was an acted-out parable and that it tied into the clearing of the Temple. The fig tree from a distance, standing tall with all its healthy leaves, looked good but upon closer examination was actually fruitless. The Temple was the same way, looking most impressive from afar, but when you got there you would see that the sacrifices and the other activities that were taking place were not done to worship God, they were hollow lacking sincerity. 

So, this begs the question: What does your life, what does my life, look like? From a distance we look like the “Poster Child for Good Christian.” Like we’ve got it all together. Right? But what Jesus think upon closer inspection of our lives or better yet our minds and thoughts, see? Would He see a life bearing much fruit or something closer to a barren fig tree?

What is fruit? You might ask. In Galatians we’re told, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” But when the Spirit is in charge of our lives, He does through us what we cannot do for ourselves. When we are totally in love with Jesus, we want to do these things, we want to be more and more like our King. Make sense? 

In 1 Corinthians we are told that, “Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own.” Let us all strive to make these temples ones of sincere reverence to our God, honoring Him in all that we think, say and do. Amen?

Have a great day and to God be the glory.

God bless you all …..