The PassionNäide

Have you ever had a day where everything looked right on the outside, but inside you felt dry, disconnected, and like you were just going through the motions?

Jesus walks up to a fig tree that looks leafy and promising, but it has no fruit. So He curses it, and it withers instantly. Wild, right?

This wasn’t just a random act of frustration. It was a living parable, a warning to people (and communities) that appear spiritually “alive” but have no real fruit. Jesus was speaking to a generation filled with religious rituals but no real faith. He was confronting spiritual performance without substance.

Then Jesus turns to His disciples and says something radical:

“Truly I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea’, it will happen.” (Matthew 21:21, ESV)

Mountains represent real, immovable problems, like religious oppression, guilt, fear, even demonic strongholds. He wasn’t talking about landscaping. He was saying: “If your faith is real, you’ll stop just looking spiritual, and start speaking to the impossible.”

Here’s the heart of it: Faith isn’t about the show. It’s about the root. It’s not loud hype or leafy appearances; it’s the quiet, consistent trust in God that dares to speak to mountains. Faith that bears fruit is rooted in something deeper: trust, surrender, and the authority of Jesus. Ask Him for a faith that roots deep, trusts boldly, and speaks powerfully.

Dear Heavenly Father, Search my heart this week and show me the places where I’ve been all leaves and no fruit, where I’ve looked the part but lacked true surrender. I don’t want a faith that performs for others. I want a faith that is rooted in You, alive, and powerful enough to move mountains. Grow that kind of faith in me. Real, honest, bold, and fruitful. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Today, ponder this: What’s one area where God may be inviting you to go deeper than appearances and trust Him with real, fruit-bearing faith?