A Fig Tree Lesson-The Fruit or Our Gifts

[Royal Bride]

A Fig Tree Lesson
The Fruit or Our Gifts

Jeremiah 29:11 Amplified Version says, "For I know the thought and plans that I have for you says the Lord, thoughts and plans for welfare and peace and not for evil, to give you hope in your final outcome." But how is this to come about you may ask?

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 7:7 Amplified Version, "each has his own special gift from God, one of this kind and one of another." This can be a gift of serving others or maybe you have a gift of teaching, others can have a gift of music ability. Maybe your gift is that of being a wife and/or mother or sweeping the floors of a business or stocking the shelves in a store. We each have something that is ours and ours alone that we do well. As Paul told Timothy in 1 Timothy 4:14 Amplified Version, "Do not neglect the gift which is in you." Even if we do not always realize what our gift is, as it may be still developing, we need to realize we are still gifted.

I would refer you to Ecclesiastes 3 for a further explanation.

Ecclesiastes 3

A Time for Everything

3:1 For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
2 a time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
3 a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
4 a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
5 a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
6 a time to seek, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
7 a time to tear, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
8 a time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace.

The God-Given Task

9 What gain has the worker from his toil? 10 I have seen the business that God has given to the children of man to be busy with. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. 12 I perceived that there is nothing better for them than to be joyful and to do good as long as they live; 13 also that everyone should eat and drink and take pleasure in all his toil—this is God's gift to man.
14 I perceived that whatever God does endures forever; nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it. God has done it, so that people fear before him. 15 That which is, already has been; that which is to be, already has been; and God seeks what has been driven away. [1]
From Dust to Dust

16 Moreover, I saw under the sun that in the place of justice, even there was wickedness, and in the place of righteousness, even there was wickedness. 17 I said in my heart, God will judge the righteous and the wicked, for there is a time for every matter and for every work. 18 I said in my heart with regard to the children of man that God is testing them that they may see that they themselves are but beasts. 19 For what happens to the children of man and what happens to the beasts is the same; as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and man has no advantage over the beasts, for all is vanity. 20 All go to one place. All are from the dust, and to dust all return. 21 Who knows whether the spirit of man goes upward and the spirit of the beast goes down into the earth? 22 So I saw that there is nothing better than that a man should rejoice in his work, for that is his lot. Who can bring him to see what will be after him? (ESV)

Footnotes

[1] 3:15 Hebrew what has been pursued




You see, there is season for everything and that would include to know what your gift is and then using it for the Lord. Age is not as important with realizing what your gift is as just using the gift when you do realize. I heard a Pastor say one time that a gift is not a gift unless you take that gift and use it.

Let us look at Abraham. He was married when the Lord said go and in obedience, he went. And even when he did not have children and the Lord told him that he would be the Father of many, he changed his name from Abram to Abraham to show his faith in what the Lord told him. Then there was Moses. He also was older when the Lord called on him to lead the children out of Egypt to the Promise Land. But you also can be young as was Samuel was just a boy when he served Eli and heard from God. Then there was the boy with the basket of fish and bread that gave it to Jesus to feed the multitudes.

Your gift is using what you do best, and being obedient to the Lord by using it wisely and to the best of your ability giving all the Glory to the One who gave you the gift. Do not be a show off with your gift but use it humbly and for the purpose it was given to you. In Mark 11:13-14 the Amplified Version, is a good example of what I am talking about. "And seeing in the distance a fig tree covered with leaves, he went to see if He could find any fruit on it for in the fig tree the fruit appears at the same time as the leaves. But when He came up to it, He found nothing but leaves, for the fig season had not yet come."

I want to leave this lesson with the what is found in Luke 13:6-9 from the Amplified Version.

And He told them a parable: A certain man had a fig tree, planted in his vineyard, and he came looking for fruit on it, but did not find any.

So he said to the vinedresser, See here! For these three years I have come looking for the fruit on this fig tree and I find none. Cut it down! Why should it continue also to use up the ground to deplete the soil, intercept the sun, and take up room?

But he replied to him, Leave it alone, sir, just this one more year, till I dig around it and put manure on the soil.

Then perhaps it will bear fruit after this; but if not, you can cut it down and out.



Are you using your gift/gifts and allowing Jesus to develop them?

[Jason]

Thanks for sharing.