We went to the market this week and bought fruit; huge
peaches, nectarines, raspberries, and grapes that crunch. Others might make
pies and desserts, but we eat them as they are, fresh, ripe and incredibly
delicious. Yesterday, with that perfect fruit on my mind and in my belly, I
made a poster listing spiritual fruit, a reminder of my God-given purpose:
“You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. These things I command you, so that you will love one another.” (John 15:16–17)
This verse is also key in having prayer answered. God
wants first a fruitful life, then to answer my prayers, even ‘whatever I ask in
Jesus’ name.’
The Bible describes fruitfulness so we can know what our
lives should display. Just as Jesus put in the above ‘purpose statement’ — the
main evidence of fruitfulness is love, however there is more . . .
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.” (Galatians 5:22–25)
I’ve learned that only the Holy Spirit produces this
fruit. If I am filled with Him, walking in obedience with Him, abiding in
Christ as He commands, then my life will bear fruit. If not, then I’m filled
with myself. However, being filled does not guarantee my life will be without
trials or stress. Jesus also said that being fruitful means pruning will
happen:
“Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.” (John 15:2)
I once had a large crabapple tree in my yard. It didn’t
have many apples, but there were enough to make the tree valuable. After a
little research, I realize it was overgrown and needed pruning. The idea was to
take out old growth and shape the tree so ‘a bird could fly through it.’ I used
the proper tools and tackled the job. When it was finished, it seemed there
were more branches on the ground than on the tree. The next spring, no apples.
I feared that I’d ruined the tree, but the year after that brought an
incredible harvest.
Having God do the pruning isn’t much fun at the time. It
means being open to the Holy Spirit who tackles my sin with an axe, or a knife,
or a scalpel, depending on what must be cut away and how much it interferes
with loving others, being joyful and at peace, showing patience, kindness and
goodness, being faithful and gentle, and having that self-control that can say
no to whatever is not good for me or for others. At times, I know what those
impurities are and invite the pruning. At other times, He goes after something
and I am slow to figure out what is happening. Nevertheless, if I cooperate in
His work of making me more like Jesus, He promises there will be a harvest!
“See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.” (1 John 3:1–3)
^^^^^^^
Jesus, I know that Your goal for me is that I “walk in a
manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing You and bearing fruit in every good
work and increasing in the knowledge of God.” (Colossians 1:10) I also know
that if any of that fruit is missing, then I have something to confess,
something that needs pruning. Thank You for being so diligent to keep working
and cutting away everything that does not look like You.
No comments:
Post a Comment