Tuesday. [Eph. 2:19-3:7; Mark 11:11-23]

   The fig tree covered with leaves was splendid in appearance, but was not honoured with approval from the Lord because there was no fruit on it, and there was no fruit because there was no inner fruit-bearing power. How many such fig trees there are in the moral sense! In appearance all is proper, but on the inside there is nothing. They are orderly, honourable, and fulfil all that is Christian, but they do not have the spirit of life in Christ Jesus; that is why they do not have living fruit. And what is in them only seems to be fruit, but is not. In what lies the spirit of life in Christ Jesus? To this we say: one part in this is from the Lord, and the other from us. What is from the Lord essentially is a fruit-bearing spiritual power; while what comes from us is just the receiver of this power. Concern yourself more with the latter. The root of this is the feeling that you are perishing, and that if it were not for the Lord, you would perish. From this you will have a heart that is broken and humbled, in everything you do, throughout your life. Further, since the future is unknown, there are many enemies, and you can stumble every moment, fear and trembling accompany salvation, along with the unceasing cry: “O Thou Who knoweth all things, save me.” Woe to him also who rests on something other than the Lord; woe to him who has worked for something other than the Lord! Ask yourself, you who labour in deeds which are considered God-pleasing, for whom are you working? If your conscience boldly answers: only for the Lord—it is good; but if not, you are building a house upon the sand. Here are several indications of a fertile inner spirit. You can understand many other things according to this.

Tuesday. [James 3:1–10; Mark 11:11–23]

The Lord took away His blessing from the fig tree which was rich with leaves but had no fruit, and it dried up. This is a lesson in action. The fig tree represents people who in appearance are proper, but in essence are not worthy of approval. Who are these people? They are those who eloquently discourse about the faith, but do not have that faith—they hold the objects of faith in the intellect only. They are those whose outward behaviour is proper but their feelings and dispositions are very improper, and they manifest proper works only to hide their impropriety from people; whenever possible, they do not do these works. For example, such a person gives alms when someone asks of him in front of people, but ask him in private and he will berate you. He goes to church to pray to God, prays in sight of everyone, and prays at home as well, so as to not bring shame upon himself before his household. But as soon as he is alone, he does not even make the sign of the cross over his brow. He does not have any idea about turning to God with the mind and heart. Let us pray that God will not allow us to be as these. For then we will not escape the judgement pronounced over the fig tree.