Good Figs

My mother-in-law and father-in-law have several fig trees. Once a year, they begin to bear fruit. My daughter and I love figs, so we anxiously await the day when they are ripe and ready to enjoy. There is almost nothing better than a perfectly ripe fig! Equally true, there is almost nothing worse than a rotten fig!

Through the prophet Jeremiah, God used figs to illustrate His people. Those people who honor Him are like perfectly ripe figs. Those who dishonor Him are rotten figs.

“After King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon exiled Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, to Babylon along with the officials of Judah and all the craftsmen and artisans, the Lord gave me this vision. I saw two baskets of figs placed in front of the Lord’s Temple in Jerusalem. One basket was filled with fresh, ripe figs, while the other was filled with bad figs that were too rotten to eat. Then the Lord said to me, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” I replied, “Figs, some very good and some very bad, too rotten to eat.” Then the Lord gave me this message: “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: The good figs represent the exiles I sent from Judah to the land of the Babylonians. I will watch over and care for them, and I will bring them back here again. I will build them up and not tear them down. I will plant them and not uproot them. I will give them hearts that recognize me as the Lord. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me wholeheartedly. “But the bad figs,” the Lord said, “represent King Zedekiah of Judah, his officials, all the people left in Jerusalem, and those who live in Egypt. I will treat them like bad figs, too rotten to eat. I will make them an object of horror and a symbol of evil to every nation on earth. They will be disgraced and mocked, taunted and cursed, wherever I scatter them. And I will send war, famine, and disease until they have vanished from the land of Israel, which I gave to them and their ancestors.””

Jeremiah 24:1-10 NLT

https://www.bible.com/116/jer.24.1-10.nlt

I want to be a good fig! I do not want to be a rotten fig!

I know I can’t accomplish this on my own! I know that it is through Jesus Christ and His strength that I can walk justly with God. Jesus’ righteousness applied to me makes me a good fig! Abiding in God, reading His Word, praising Him and talking to Him in prayer are all means by which we nurture our lives in Christ. Keeping our eyes on Him and His truth, we can walk with Him in joy!

Dear Heavenly Father,

◦ Thank you for perfectly ripe figs. Thank you for this illustration in Your Word! Thank you that through Jesus’ love and sacrifice on the cross, by faith, we are good figs! We are your chosen children whom you love. Give us strength daily to abide in that love. Amen.

Thank you to my sister, Kim, for writing this blog post and the next while I have surgery and recover.