I just crack myself up with these titles. I might be the only one who thinks they are funny, but it wakes me up in the morning. I’m a goober, I can’t help it.
I promised that I would talk about fruit bearing versus non fruit bearing. What does that mean anyway? How does one go about producing fruit? Is pruning painful? Due to the length of the lesson, this will span over posts. You will be getting it in small portions, or should I say, “pieces of fruit”?
Let’s go back to John 15:1-3: “I am the true vine and my Father is the gardener. 15:2 He takes away every branch that does not bear fruit in me. He prunes every branch that bears fruit so that it will bear more fruit. 15:3 You are clean already because of the word that I have spoken to you.”
I mentioned that fruitful branches are true believers in Christ. You can tell by their daily living and union with Christ. They produce much fruit. But there are those who are unproductive, they don’t produce fruit. Those are the ones who have turned back from following Christ. They made a superficial commitment to Him, and in doing so, they will be separated from the vine. Who’s the vine? Jesus. Who are the branches? We are. What are we supposed to do? Produce fruit.
It would be like the seed planted, took root, started to grow, but its’ branches turned, coiled, and retreated from fully sprouting to the point of extending and producing the little fruit on the end. Like an unproductive fruit tree, unproductive followers are of no use, and will be cut off and tossed aside.
Maybe someone in your life is saying they do not want to be a fruit tree. They want to be a palm tree, or a weed. Maybe you are asking yourself if you are a fruit tree. We’ll talk more about the branches in the next posts. Don’t go anywhere.
Prayer time:
Lord, I thank you for your time today and for the message you shared with me. I thank you Lord for taking something as simple as a fruit tree, and using it to get the point across in our lives. It gives us something we are all familiar. Father, if there is someone in our life who has turned back from you, not wanting to blossom and produce or even seek you right now, Lord we pray for them. We stand in the gap for them and ask for you to water them, to be a gardener to them, so they may turn to you. Father, we ask for forgiveness of our sins and to cleanse us anew. In your son’s name I pray all these things, Amen.
Standing on the promises of God,
Jeanette Duby
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