Bearing Fruit

[Speaking of "bearing," please bear with me as I work to try to find out what is causing the "wide screen" version of part of this blog. I knew I ate too much on the cruise, but I really didn't become that wide in only a week! So far I cannot figure out what happened, but I'm working at it.]

So on to Bearing Fruit...It is near the end of growing season for our garden, though we still have okra, tomatoes, lettuce, beans and half a dozen watermelons growing on the vine. I am starting the preparation for planting for a fall garden.

As I was picking tomatoes today, I began to think about how the plants grow fruit, but the fruit is really of no benefit to the plant. The plants don't eat their fruit. Yet that is their purpose - to bear fruit. If the fruit is not picked and does not become nourishment to someone, what good is it? It just rots on the vine. The purpose of fruit is not for being admired or to simply "look good." The fruit is intended to bring strength and nourishment to those who partake of it.

So, what about our lives? Why do we seek to bear Godly fruit? What purpose does that have? Godly fruit is not for building our pride or drawing admiration. It is not simply for display, to make us look good. Certainly, we do experience benefit from the spiritual fruit in our lives. Who wants to live without joy, peace and the other fruit of the Spirit? We, unlike our plants, do draw from the fruit and are blessed as our character (fruit) is more like the character of God.

Fruit comes on the vine because that is what our garden plants are created to do - bear fruit. If the plant does not bear fruit (John 15:1-6), then the plant is useless. This year and last, we planted squash which boomed profusely, but never bore fruit. The plants were pretty, but were useless because they were fruitless. We are told that we are the branches, attached to the vine. We were created to bear Godly fruit. That is our purpose.

However, consider that even our fruit is not only for the one who bears it. It is for others to draw from. It is to be given away. We must give away love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance (Galatians 5:22). If we keep the fruit to ourselves, then it does not accomplish its purpose.

We are called to be givers, not "keepers." First we receive. We receive new life - salvation and the Spirit of God that comes to live inside of us. We receive forgiveness. We receive His promises. We receive His blessings. We receive freedom as we come to know Truth. We receive far more than we can even list or imagine... many things that we see and understand, and many things that we don't see. We receive His protection and perhaps even angels are sent to surround us, but we don't often, if ever, see them. We are told that God does not withhold any good thing from us (Romans 8:32).

But the scriptures also tell us that what we freely receive, we are to freely give (Matthew 10:8). We don't receive from God so we can look good, but so that we can pass all He gives us on to other people and they, too, can partake of His goodness.

The Jordan River in Israel is full of life. It flows from the northern part of the nation toward the South. Charlie and I visited Caesarea Philippi and saw one of the "mouths" of the Jordan River. Much of the water that flows in the Jordan comes from snow that melts on Mount Herman (Psalm 133:3). However, it eventually flows into the Dead Sea, which has no outlet. There is no life in the Dead Sea because the water flows into it but does not flow out of it.

If there is an area in your life where you feel that you have little, then take what you have and give it away. All we have is given to us from God. He alone sustains our lives. If you have a lack, maybe it is because God invested something in your life and you kept it for yourself. Try giving to others and becoming a River of Life, a conduit for God to use to pass His blessings on to others. If you need encouragement, then find some you can encourage. If you need a friend, then become a friend. If you need prayer, then begin by praying for others. If you need to receive love and acceptance, then reach out in love to others and give them unconditional acceptance. Do not become the Dead Sea, where all His blessings flow into your life and do not flow out.

May this week you be aware of the fruit in your life and give it to others who need it. When someone frustrates you, return patience. When someone yells or is brash, return gentleness. When you are with someone who is walking in strife and anxiety, speak words of peace and assurance. Don't keep the fruit to yourself, but reach out and let others partake of the Spirit and its benefits through you. The more you and I give away, the more God will pour of Himself into our lives.