SCRIPTURE: Jeremiah 24
OBSERVATION/APPLICATION:
My eyes will watch over them for their good, and I will bring them back to this land. I will build them up and not tear them down; I will plant them and not uproot them. I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the LORD. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me with all their heart. [Jeremiah 24:6-7]
Good figs and bad figs, two separate baskets.
Even though the whole nation was exiled because of the sins of the shepherds (leaders), God watches over the helpless sheep like a good shepherd.
Whereas the bad shepherds gave the sheep bad hearts – hearts that did not know God – the good shepherd will shape their hearts to know God.
And with God’s help, they will repent and return, and be good figs!
I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. [John 15:5-6]
The image changes from figs to grapes, but the idea is the same.
God Himself will produce good fruit from His people.
He will tend the vine, and separate the good branches from the bad ones.
The good ones will be pruned (a painful process) while the bad ones will be destroyed.
The goal in both passages is to raise up a people that know and love and obey God with their whole heart.
This is what God created us for, and this is what God is working to restore.
Imagine a world where people knew God, loved God, obeyed God!
This is only possible when our hearts are connected to God.
This is what Jesus came to do, to restore our connection to God.
Apart from Him we are useless, dead branches… or baskets of bad figs.
But with Him, and the life and power of His Spirit coursing through our branches, we are able to live good lives, produce good fruit.
What is the good life?
It is a life rooted in God, with His love and life and power at work in us.
Our hearts need to be changed from the inside out to experience this.
I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the LORD. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me with all their heart. [Jeremiah 24:7]
Change my heart, O God!
PRAYER:
Lord, I am a shepherd (a leader), and this passage warns me not to be a bad fig. Change my heart, root it in You, prune me and make me fruitful and good!
The hood and the bad figs represent God’s people – those in captivity and those not. The main difference between the good and the bad is the condition of the fruit. You will know them by their ‘fruit.’ The fruit gives them away. Our works, our doings, our loving will give us away. And they will knew that they are Christians by our love. And that love is a heart condition.
Those in exile were the people returning to God with all their heart. His discipline, His pruning was accepted as life giving direction while those in captivity were beyond reproach – going their own ways and not willing to be corrected.
Turn our hearts to Home Lord because they belong to You. Help us to bear good fruit in all we do.
Love, joy, peace, patience and kindness,
Goodness and self-control,
Faithfulness and gentleness –
My fruit is gonna grow