We must choose to be a good fig or bad fig

From: July 18-24, 2006 Study: # 453

TOPIC: “We must choose: to be a good fig or bad fig” Jeremiah 24:1-10 There is a fruit well known and appreciated which is found in the Middle East, it is the fig. Its texture is very smooth. They are delicious and desired by the Jewish people. According to what we read in Jeremiah, we the church must be good fig. Sometimes we think we live a simple life and that we are common people, but we must understand that we are a basket full of good fig. We, the church, are good fig to sweeten all who surround us. This should be our sense of responsibility to this world. If we don’t take care of our spiritual life we will turn into bad fig. In the days of the kings of Judah God began to work strongly with his people thru the prophet Jeremiah. He prophesized that they must accept to go into captivity in Babylon for there God was to teach them and restore them. Some of them heard and obeyed the word of the prophet and went to Babylon, others were rebellious and stayed in Judah or escaped to Egypt. According to their obedience or disobedience God compared them to a good fig or a bad fig. The early figs are the good figs, from the first harvest, the exquisite ones. Those are the ones God wants, the best. That when others in this world see us, they will want to eat what they see. But being obedient seems impossible nowadays. Nobody likes to obey. Men are drawn to disobedience, but this only brings great troubles and sorrows. When we disobey we suffer the consequences. The best thing in life is to be responsible, for there are many surrounding us who depend on us. If we are like figs we must understand we must be exquisite. No one will eat a bad fig and come back to taste it again, not with a disobedient person. With a humble and obedient person you can and receive the best. To some it is easy to obey, but to others it is hard and complicated. For example, the obedience required from Jonah resulted in a harsh way. He had to fall into the digestive system of a big fish. But the greatest example was our Lord Jesus Christ, who loved obedience. Philippians 2:8 When we are obedient we give the best in our homes, our jobs and all around us, and our loved ones will learn and love this virtue. Jeremiah knew well what obedience was, but the people did not. When a person is used to living in disobedience, it becomes natural because their conscience is cauterized, it dries up. Jesus was obedient to the death on the cross. Then we should learn the maximum obedience. When we are disobedient we suffer the consequences and it is very sad. We decide what kind of fig we want to be, a good one or a bad one. If we really love we must not do wrong to others, not even to our worst enemy. We must be a good fig to all who come near us. When we get to Heaven we must seek that the angels can say that we are a good fig. A good fig is sweet, soft, thin skin that is filled with seeds inside. The church must be as a good fig tree filled with many seeds inside them. That’s how we should be, a fig with many fruits desired by all. Jeremiah 29:17, 18 When a fig is bad the sword will come, suffering and pain. A man or a woman who seek and obey God and are meek for God will always have God’s favor upon them, even if great troubles arise. No evil will prosper against those who are obedient. Even death can come, but nothing will be able to destroy us. The only way to fall is if we begin to disobey, because we get harsh, rebellious. As Christ’s church we must love obedience. God asked and I gave myself: God doesn’t call us to receive applauses but to show us obedience, to bear, to suffer. To make us understand that the dross must be taken out. We must not forget that we must be a good fig because we will be accountable before God. Each one of us will come before the throne of God and be accountable before God. Humans forget that they depend completely on God, that they have responsibilities; they forget where they came from. 2 Corinthians 5:10

God began to work with the people of Judah. The first ones who obeyed and went to captivity were to have Jehovah’s blessing. Jeremiah 29:4-6 Those who did not became bad fig, those who fled to Egypt dried out. People start to flee when bad days arrive, everybody leaves. God was going to take the people to Babylon and there He was going to take care of them. In many occasions God has to take us to captivity because it’s the only way He can teach us. Sometimes we prefer to stay hiding or go to Egypt. It is difficult to be a good fig because we must face captivity. When we do what God wants we show that we are good figs. A bad fig is bitter, it’s rotten, and it is so bad that you cannot eat it. Those who do not honor God, which do not give a good service to their generation cannot be eaten. Sometimes we live disguising ourselves, not being sincere but hypocrites, and a good fig cannot live this way. Those who leave to Egypt, symbolizing the world, there they will only learn idolatry and destruction. Let us be people filled with peace and not filled with disputes. Pride makes us walk according to what is inside of us and not according to God’s will. The person who is obedient submits to God’s will and does not murmur. Let God shatter our lives all that is necessary. Blessed are those who have been obedient first. Those who went to captivity were to return with joy because that’s what they were told. They were going to be taken care of by God. Jeremiah 29:7 God took care of those who were in captivity and placed them in honored places and God will take care of us where ever He wants to take us. He will protect us, nothing will harm us. He wants us to show him that we are good figs. Those who stayed in Jerusalem were the ones who did not receive correction. We flee when God wants to correct us! We feel ashamed. It seemed that the exile was bad for them, but it was for their own good. Jehovah Jireh was going to be their provider and that is the same God who prospers us where ever we go. When God wants to work in us, it is because He wants to give us a heart to know Him and to make us His people. We cannot be like his people in Egypt or hiding away. Those who are obedient are a basket filled with good figs, from the first harvest, sweet, soft. But those who are disobedient are a harvest of bad figs that is not desirable by men or by God. We decide what we will become. I will be among the good fig. How about you? Amen.