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I know the voice. The one that says jump. Pull the trigger. Take the pills. I've sat with that monster more times than I can count. But for Christ, I'd be in a ditch somewhere. This morning, an 18-year-old in my town stepped in front of a train. Last week, an acquaintance was found dead in his front yard. Wife and children discovered him. Today, I watched a young man testify in church about God's goodness. Three hours later I saw him at the mall in Minion PJ’s acting like a complete fool. I sat down. Grieving. Why… Then Jesus showed me a tree. Mark 11:12-14. Jesus walks up to a fig tree. Hungry. Looking for breakfast. The tree is covered in leaves. Green. Full. Perfect. He reaches into the branches. Pushes the leaves aside. Nothing. No fruit. Just performance. So He curses it. "Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever." By morning, the tree is dead. Withered from the roots. The disciples stare. Shocked. Jesus isn't. Judas sat at the table for three years. Heard every sermon. Saw every miracle. Called Jesus "Master." All the right words. All the right proximity. Then Gethsemane. He found Jesus praying. Soldiers following behind. And he kissed Him. Thirty pieces of silver in his pocket. Matthew says he hanged himself. Acts says "he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out." Guts in the dirt. Blood in the field. That's what happens to fig trees with no fruit. The kid who testified today? Testimony at 10 AM. Minion PJ’s by 1 PM. Zero transition. Zero weight. Zero sense that what happened in that building should alter anything. All leaves. The 18-year-old who stepped in front of the train? He grew up watching Christianity that looked perfect on Sunday but held nothing when life got heavy. When he needed roots deep enough to hold him, there was nothing. So he walked to the tracks. Waited. Stepped. Metal on bone. Blood on the rails. That's what happens when faith is all leaves. “This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me." Matthew 15:8 Jesus wasn't talking about atheists. He was talking about religious people. People who testify on Sunday. Act the fool on Monday. Their mouths honor Him. Their hearts are far. Jesus didn't curse the fig tree because it was struggling. He cursed it because it was pretending. Leaves gave the appearance of life while producing nothing. Modern Christianity has worship bands, viral sermons, stadium conferences. But when Christ gets close? Where's the fruit? Where's the transformation that costs something? Where's the faith with roots deep enough to hold when the train comes? The scariest part? Jesus didn't give the tree a chance to explain. No sermon about trying harder. No grace period. He cursed it. And it died. Because fake fruit is worse than no fruit. Leaves that promise substance but deliver nothing are offensive to God. You can't fake fruit when Jesus shows up. Judas learned that. Ended up with guts in a field. The fig tree learned that. Withered from the roots. "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom." Proverbs 9:10 Not respect. Not appreciation. Fear. The kind that knows you can't fake fruit when the King shows up. We don't have that anymore. And it's killing us. So here's your question: Are you producing fruit, or just maintaining leaves? When Christ walks up to your tree, hungry, looking for substance, what's He going to find? The fig tree couldn't answer. So it withered. Judas couldn't answer. So his guts spilled. That 18-year-old couldn't answer. So he stepped. What's your answer? —TBM