Nurture The Fig Tree

“’Sir,’ the man replied, ‘leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it. If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.’” - Luke 13:8-9 
 
Luke tells the story of a landowner who had a problem with an unproductive fig tree. The landowner is frustrated because for some time he has visited a site on his estate where a fig tree had been planted, and over the course of 3 years, he comes looking for fruit, but each time he comes, he is utterly disappointed because the tree is barren.

He concludes eventually that the best thing he can do is to cut the tree down because it is not producing what he expected. The reason Jesus uses this story is not to talk about fruit trees and gardens.  

Fig trees were very common in the Mediterranean world and were used in Scripture for the spiritual well-being of the nation. The reason He highlights this parable is to illustrate what you and I need to do, and can do, in those areas of our lives that are unproductive.  

You know what fruitless things I’m talking about: the reckless things we are committed to doing, the unproductive areas we are invested in, and the irresponsible choices we made expecting things to turn out well.  

There are aspects of our lives that are barren, areas of our lives we had high hopes for, but they are unfruitful. And we keep going back to that tree looking for fruit, looking for growth, looking for progress, but there is none.
 
If you find yourself in this exact situation, God wants to tell you something today: don’t cut the fig tree, prune and nurture it. Luke 13:8-9 says, “’Sir,’ the man replied, ‘leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it. If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.’”

God’s not done with your fig tree. He will do the nurturing and the harvesting if you rely on Him.