Disclaimer: the following could cause mouth-watering and cravings! It’s fruit season where we live. This morning dear Husband went across our road and picked wild blackberries which we enjoyed on our waffles along with fresh peaches from a friend’s trees. Our own tiny apple tree is laden with not-yet-ripe apples. We can see grapes on the vines in the vineyards in our area. This all got me to thinking about the many times fruit is used in Scripture as a metaphor for our lives.

We can’t make fruit on our own. We can cooperate in making fruit by not blocking the necessary nutrients coming from the roots and through the trunk. We willingly keep open channels between us and God.  Reading the Bible is a good way to receive his nutrients, and prayer is a wonderful way to keep an open heart to God.  Our obedience keeps the channels of blessing open.

“For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me. “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.” John 15:4-5

“But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives. . .” Galatians 5:22

“May you always be filled with the fruit of your salvation—the righteous character produced in your life by Jesus Christ.” Philippians 1:11

We can lose our connection with the Source when we allow everyday concerns to crowd out our time with him.  This causes sad results. What is crowding out your time reading, praying, and attending services?

“. . . but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the worries of this life and the lure of wealth, so no fruit is produced.” Matthew 13:22

Plants produce fruit (in the broad sense of that term), that nurtures life and reproduces life. Fruit nurtures the lives of humans, animals, and insects. And the seeds in the fruit produce more plants. When Scripture talks about fruit it’s referring to these two aspects, also. Both good character that nurtures a better life for all, and bringing others into the faith that reproduces life in others.  Our lives being changed to be more Jesus-like naturally attract others to him.

“The fruit they harvest is people brought to eternal life.” John 4:36
“(for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth)”. Ephesians 5:9

“This same Good News that came to you is going out all over the world. It is bearing fruit everywhere by changing lives, just as it changed your lives from the day you first heard and understood the truth about God’s wonderful grace. . . Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit. All the while, you will grow as you learn to know God better and better.” Colossians 1:6, 10

Fruit distinguishes one kind of plant from another. Useful, delicious fruit in its many forms comes from different useful plants. Thorns and thistles come from undesirable plants. Even plants of the same variety vary in their usefulness- one bears sweet, plentiful fruit, while its neighbor bears sour, sparse fruit. What people do, distinguishes them as useful or undesirable. Even those that appear to be good may not be. Actions speak louder than words- or looks!

”You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act. Can you pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit. Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions.’” Matthew 7:16-17, 20

There are many varieties of fruit, aren’t there?
“But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!” Galatians 5:22-23

Love can take many forms. Not only affectionate, warm fuzzies, but confrontational, tough love that warns, admonishes, and corrects. Or the nitty-gritty love that gets up in the middle of the night with a sick child.
Joy can be the happy, dancing, singing kind as well as quiet assurance in tears and pain.
Peace can be comfortable unity or calmness in conflict.

Fruit grows on young trees as well as old trees.

 

“But the godly will flourish like palm trees
and grow strong like the cedars of Lebanon.
For they are transplanted to the Lord’s own house.
They flourish in the courts of our God.
Even in old age they will still produce fruit;
they will remain vital and green.
They will declare, “The Lord is just!
He is my rock!
There is no evil in him!” Psalm 92:12-15

Sometimes it takes a while for a tree to produce fruit. One of our pear trees has yet to produce so much as one pear. For the last two years, we’ve intended to pull it out and replace it. Yet we haven’t been diligent to give it extra attention and coax it into producing. Often it takes extra effort and patience to encourage someone who isn’t coming along toward fruitfulness. (And even after special tending, there are no guarantees that the person will respond positively.)  Is there someone in your family that could use some extra tending?

“Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it but did not find any. So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’
“‘Sir,’ the man replied, ‘leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it. If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.’” Luke 13:6-9

Good plants need to be pruned to make them produce even more. People are often pruned by going through difficult times. Trials have a way of helping us eliminate unproductive things in our lives. They force us to prioritize and put first things first. As I age, I have physical limitations I didn’t use to have. Now I have to choose carefully what I expend energy on. I’m learning to do what has eternal value first and accept that other things I might enjoy don’t get done.

“he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more…When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father…” John 15:2,8