The seed that bears kingdom fruit.

LUK 13:7-9, 18-21 NASB

And he said to the vineyard-keeper, 'Behold, for three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree without finding any. Cut it down! Why does it even use up the ground?'  And he answered and said to him, 'Let it alone, sir, for this year too, until I dig around it and put in fertilizer;  and if it bears fruit next year, fine; but if not, cut it down.'"    

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So He was saying, "What is the kingdom of God like, and to what shall I compare it?  It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and threw into his own garden; and it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the  air nested in its  branches ."    And again He said, "To what shall I compare the kingdom of God?  It is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three pecks of flour until it was all leavened."

O -  I find these two passages being great parables of how God views us here on earth, as well as a view of the kingdom of heaven (on earth as it is heaven).    Jesus is speaking to the people of Jerusalem and likely particularly at the Pharisees and religious leaders and saying, God has planted you here is to lead His people but year after year there is no fruit coming from this group leading God's people.  Time and again he has sent folks to dig around and fertilize the tree of Israel and time and again they become fruitless.   The Jesus says, the kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, because it is the true beginning of the kingdom of heaven, it grows large and becomes a tree and many will be affected by this small seed.  Where there is no Mustard , grows a weed, whose seed is not of heaven.

A - The application for me is to recognize that God has plowed, and fertilized me, cultivated me to produce fruit.  Because of this, and because the kingdom of heaven now resides in my heart,  I am called to produce fruit. I am called to grow and bear fruit of and for the kingdom of heaven.

P - Dear heavenly Father, thank you for today's lesson, may it be sealed to my heart.  I pray Lord that you would continue to prune, and cultivate me to bear much fruit.  In  Jesus name I pray, Amen.