Fruit

Jesus talked a lot about fruit. The concept is found throughout the Bible. The culture was based on agriculture, so it makes sense that many of the stories and lessons of the scriptures come from topics like gardening.

Fruit is a great way to think about our spiritual lives. It tells a much better story than works or showmanship. I do not know about you, but I get weary of Christian performance. It happens all the time that some person or church that captivated Christians and non-Christians alike with their charisma and talent falls away from the gospel, leaving a trail of wreckage. In those moments, we discover that we are looking at false fruit.

It is no fun to take a closer look at that fruit and realize it was fake, painted-over, plastic fruit. Jesus certainly felt strongly about this. In Matthew 12:33 ESV, he says, “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit.”

The good news is that God sees the fruit, not the fake.

The bad news is that people tend to see the outward appearance before they see the root. God calls us to focus not on producing fruit (that is his job) but on becoming a good tree.

I want to be a good tree, but I find that my best efforts fall short of the miraculous process that must take place for these written roots to live again. Even on my best days, I fail to produce any resemblance of desirable fruit.

What kind of fruit are we talking about? Look no further than Galatians 5:22-23. These fruits are only produced by the spirit.

So what choice do we have today?

Jesus taught us that we need to stop riding the middle line. Naturally, we will want to become good trees, but we cannot do that on our own.

It is only through opening ourselves up to the divine work of Christ through his Spirit that we can become a good tree and produce good fruit.

“For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” — Philippians 2:13

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