Tuesday 31 Jul 2018

July 31: Matthew 21:18-22

Key Verse: Matthew 21:19
Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. Then he said to it, “May you never bear fruit again!” Immediately the tree withered.

Devotion:
Faith is much the same as a fruit tree which is planted in that it does grow if it is able to obtain nourishment from somewhere. But if it does not have enough goodness supplied to it, it may well not give you any fruit. The simple fact is the tree needs to be supplied with nutrients in order to grow and must have enough in order for the fruit to be bountiful. Our faith is nothing different because we need to have a source from which we can obtain our nutrients – that is God’s Word. We also have to make sure we do obtain those nutrients at regular intervals…

How many times have you expected someone to be able to do something because they have talked about it for so long; only to find out they cannot carry it out? We come forward and profess ourselves to be Christians. If we tell others we are a Christian, they will expect various things from us: commitment, attitude, behaviour, honesty, kindness and endurance to name but a few. If they do not find those qualities in us, then we are going to disappoint them in some way. How are others supposed to obtain fruit from us if we are not bothered to feed ourselves?

We are given everything we need in order for us to be able to be fruitful and to be able to support others. Whether we are able to or not is going to depend on whether we have been growing with the nutrients we have been given. If we allow ourselves to have our supply of nutrients cut off then we will not continue to grow; we may have a wonderful start as a Christian, but if we are not willing to continue growing, we are not going to be of much use. If we reject Christ, then we are like the barren fig tree that Christ rejected. If we are not strong in our faith we may well find the first hurdle we have to face will be the one which breaks us and cuts off our supply of nutrients so that we cannot grow. Christ is more than able to strengthen us to make sure we can withstand any hurdle we face in life so long as we put our faith and trust in Him!

Points to Ponder:
Have you ever had a plant die on you because it could not stand up to the weather?

Will you have faith enough to allow Christ to strengthen you properly?