Are You a Fig Tree or a Grapevine?

The Lord led me to James 3:12 early this morning.

My brothers and sisters,
can a fig tree bear olives,
or a grapevine bear figs?
Neither can a salt spring
produce fresh water.

James 3:12 (NIV)

The larger context of the verse is that James is writing to believers outside Jerusalem. Chapter 3 is centered around “Taming the Tongue” and is well known for its scathing admonition of all things speech. He explains that,

…no human being can tame the tongue.
It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.
With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father,
and with it we curse human beings,
who have been made in God’s likeness.

James 3:8-9 (NIV)

And right after that, he says, “Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing” (10). So by the time we get to 3:12, the imagery lands: can a fig tree bear olives or a grapevine bear figs?

We cannot produce what we were made not to produce.

We are made in the image of the Almighty God, Jehovah. The original design for humans did not include the ability to produce poison from our mouths, but The Fall and subsequent brokenness corrupted our thoughts and speech.

So now what was made to produce fresh water produces salty water.

There is another way to look at this passage, which struck me when I first read it. Still, from the lens of purpose and God’s design: don’t try to be what you are not. If God has called you to x, it makes no sense to do y.

If God has made, purposed, and called you to be a fig tree, why are you trying to produce olives?

The metaphor holds when you consider that it is impossible for a fig tree to produce grapes. In the same way, if you are called to a chef but are languishing in a career as an attorney, your life will not produce the fruit you were meant to produce.

Yet in God’s mercy and sovereignty, as the Gardener, he will graft you where you are onto another branch, and you can still be fruitful because, with God, all things are possible (Matthew 19:26 (NIV).

It’s really interesting that, on the one hand, we can bear much fruit, yet on the other hand, without Jesus, we can do nothing:

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.

John 15:5 (NIV)

There is a constant tension in life of being fruitful and not being fruitful, feeling productive and not, feeling useful and not, sensing meaning and not. If you live long enough, you should catch a glimpse of both sides: fruitfulness and unfruitfulness.

Some questions for the reader (feel free to pick one and answer in the comments):

1. When have you felt most fruitful, even if it was just once?

2. When do you feel most unproductive and without meaning?

3. Where do you sense the tug and nudge of God inviting you into something?

4. What is some “fruit” you produced that was all from God’s grace?

Dear Jesus,

You are the vine,

we are the branches.

Tend to us

that we might produce good fruit,

whether thoughts, speech, or deeds.

Amen.