Spring. This is a special time of year. Not just because of the warmer weather, the budding of the trees, the blooming of the flowers, or the nearness of the last day of school, but also because it's time for gardening. Now, the turning and tilling of fresh earth might not bring joyful tears to everybody's eyes but it does for some. And surely everyone does look forward to the first fresh green onion or homegrown tomatoes!
So what is a garden, really? Is it the broken warm earth, plowed with neatly spaced straight furrows? The seeds that nestle among grains of soil? The plants or sprouts that spring up and then wax and wane according to the sun, wind, rain, weeds, bugs, and fertilizer? Are we satisfied with the full grown stalks, vines, and plants? No, we're looking for something more. Something of value. We're looking for the fruit. For what is a garden that bears no fruit?
God's Word has a lot to say about fruit in our lives, and it's usually not talking about what we eat, but rather what we produce. As we look again and again at the parables Jesus told, we find how individuals were judged because their condition was reflected in the actions of their lives. In Matthew 24 and 25, the evil slave, the five foolish virgins, the unfaithful slave, and the "goats" were not judged by where they were, what they were called, what they planned to do, or what they thought or believed to be true. They were judged according to their condition which was evident in the fruit of their lives. Yet each was SURPRISED by the verdict!
In Matthew 7, Jesus said, 1) few enter the narrow gate to Heaven; 2) they can be known by the fruit of their lives, and 3) many who call Him "Lord" do not really know Him. One of Satan's greatest weapons is the satisfaction we can find in a false sense of security. Are we being deceived by what we "hope," "think," "feel," or "would like to believe" is true in our lives and in the lives of those we love? God's Word ways the truth can be seen in the fruit we bear.
What should we look for? I John 5:13 says, "These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, in order tht you may KNOW that you have eternal life." Some of the things John writes about are:
- Fellowship (1:7)
- Obedience (2:3)]
- Christ-likeness (2:6)
- Righteousness (2:29)
- Ministry & service (3:17)
- Sharing of faith (4:15)
- Love for others (5:1)
"I am the vine, you are the branches, he who abides in me and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing... By this is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be my disciples." John 15:5 & 8)
From May 8, 1990
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