Eat What You Want and Stay Thin! (Mark 11)

Eat What You Want and Stay Thin! (Mark 11)

Mark 11.13-14 And seeing from afar a fig tree having leaves, He went to see if perhaps He would find something on it. When He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. In response Jesus said to it, “Let no one eat fruit from you ever again.” And His disciples heard it. [nkjv]

Sometimes false advertising is easy to spot. We hear those incredible statements like 'lose 50 kilo's in 5 days' or 'eat all you want and stay thin!' If it sounds too good to be true, most often it usually is. But sometimes false advertising is a little more subtle.

Take for example Listerine.

First formulated in 1879 as surgical antiseptic, it was given to dentists for oral care in 1895. It was the first over-the-counter mouthwash sold in the USA in 1914. However by the 1920's it was being marketed as a cure for sore throats and coughs, a dandruff preventative, an anti-shave tonic and a safe way to protect yourself from cuts, bruises, wounds and stings!

It promised the world but at the end of the day, delivered very little. Eventually the company was fined and ordered to make amends.

In this modern day and age, very little has changed. We are surrounded by marketing campaigns promising the world but coming up short. The end result is we get more and more cynical.

Jesus found the fig tree to be guilty of the same sort of false advertising and He cursed it! Not because it didn't have fruit, but because it's green leaves promised fruit but delivered none.

There are too many churches today doing exactly the same thing. They present themselves publicly in such a way that hungry people are drawn to the 'green leaves' in search of food, only to find upon closer inspection that there is no fruit on the tree. People come expecting sustenance and substance but leave empty handed and I think their heart grows a little more cynical each time it happens.

However it's easy to cast blame on the church but we need to remember that churches are made up of people, just like you and me. So we have a responsibility as individuals to ask ourselves the question, "if someone came looking at my tree, what fruit would they find?"

Love? Joy? Peace? Patience? Kindness? Goodness? Faithfulness? Meekness? Self-control?

Maybe if we all did that, the church today would resemble more of what Christ intended for her to be.