The truth about bearing fruit…
What is your favorite fruit? Bananas, Grapes, Strawberries? I’m not sure if I have a favorite fruit, but I do think that strawberries are the most beautiful fruit, don’t you? All dressed in scarlet red, looking like they are ready for a fancy night out on the town! (Or maybe just a quick trip to my shortcake and whipped cream!)
A couple of springs ago the kids and I went to pick strawberries. There were fields of red delicious strawberry bushes as far as the eye could see! It was strawberry season so each strawberry bush was bursting with plentiful strawberry fruits. It was breathtaking…and quite delicious!
As I soaked in the sun and gorged myself with hundreds of strawberries (maybe not hundreds, but definitely a lot), I worshiped Elohim, our Creator God, in that sweet strawberry patch as He revealed this beautiful truth to me.
These strawberry bushes didn’t do one thing to produce these decadent strawberries!
Because their roots were planted in fertile soil, the nutrients from that soil fed the bush. The water from the rain quenched their thirst and the brilliance from the Sun gave them the energy through photosynthesis they needed to sustain life. The nutrients from the soil were then carried through the bush into its branches and in its season (not determined by the bush itself) out popped luscious buds of heart shaped goodness.
Do you see the spiritual truths here?
Jesus says in John 15:5 – “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.”
This strawberry plant didn’t try real hard to strawberry. No, it simply abided in its soil. It was firmly planted. What does it mean to abide in? To abide simply means to accept, to live, or to rest in. Just like the strawberry bush, we don’t have to “work” to produce good fruit. We simply abide in Christ and the Holy Spirt produces the fruit.
Good fruit will be produced as we simply abide (accept, live in, rest in):
1. We ACCEPT that Jesus is our pure and spotless Lamb.
2. We LIVE in union with Him.
3. We REST in His production of fruit through us!
Wow! This is So Beautiful!
Here is the scientific explanation of photosynthesis from Answers.com:
The plant feeds and consumes energy from the sun through a system called Photosynthesis. Plants take in the sun’s energy and the energy is converted and used to keep the plant alive. That’s why plants grow towards the light.
This is fascinating! Do you see this parallelism?
We, those of us who have placed our faith in Christ, feed on and consume energy (imparted righteousness – Romans 4) from The Son, Jesus, through a process we call salvation (placing faith in Christ and what He did on the cross) We then take on the identity of Christ. It’s our NEW identity! We are a NEW creation! (2 Corinthians 5:17) We use this identity to stay alive. Because we are now in fact, alive IN Christ. (Romans 6) Our spirit is now in union with Christ and seated in heavenly places (1 Corinthians 6:17, Ephesians 2:6) and therefore we can’t “get” any “closer” (as you hear people speak of doing something to “get closer to God”). Because our spirits are already in union with Him (that’s as close as you can get), our minds and hearts simply grow more toward Him, and discover more of Him and His extravagant love every day.
While strawberries are the fruit found on a strawberry bush, the fruits of the Spirit are the characteristics found on anyone in Christ. Notice who produces the fruit. It is not us, but the Holy Spirit inside. The strawberry bush doesn’t have to work to produce strawberries and we don’t have to work to produce good fruits.
Galatians 5:22-25
22But the HOLY SPIRIT produces this kind of fruit IN our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!
24Those who belong to Christ Jesus have nailed the passions and desires of their sinful nature to His cross and crucified them there.
25Since we are living by the Spirit, let us surrender (and rest in) the Spirit’s leading in every part of our lives.
We can trust the Holy Spirit to lead us and produce His fruit in us. We place our faith in Him. We don’t place our faith in our own efforts. We can trust Him to produce His fruit beautifully in us and through us.
The question is: do you trust that the Holy Spirit will produce good fruit through you?
The strawberry bush (and every plant) goes through a process called photosynthesis and we go through a process called salvation which makes us a New Creation. It gives us a New Identity. Because the Holy Spirit lives inside of us, we can’t help but produce good fruit. He does it through us. It’s who He is. Of course we will display His fruits. It’s who we are in Him, because that is where we abide!
In Christ –
You are a Branch of Jesus.
Jesus is the vine. He has done the work. A perfect and completed work. Just as a vine is rooted in the soil (the Father) to collect the nutrients and pass them on to the branch, the branch is merely a vessel for the production of the fruit. The branch doesn’t make the fruit. The Holy Spirit (the living water and nutrients that pass through the branch) does that. (Gal 5:22) The branch simply abides, remains, and rests trusting the Holy Spirit to bear fruit through you.
Branch of Jesus – is your Identity!
Stop focusing on “Fruit-ing” and Rest in His Grace today. Trust the Holy Spirit to bear His fruit through you. Of course you will bear good fruit because that is who you are in Christ. Rest in your identity as a branch of Jesus. As you abide in Him, you will bear much fruit! And when you do, you will think, wow, Jesus, You are so incredible! – because you weren’t focused on your own production. Instead, you were focused on a Person. All the praise goes out to Him! Our gracious fruit Producer!
On your journey consider this…
On your journey consider this…
We don’t do to receive, we are so we do.
Our actions follow our understanding of our true identity.
“May your journey bring freedom and your mind be ever renewed to His truth!” – Angel
Journey to Grace Land 