Bushels of Fruit
DAILY REMINDER #8 - "If I want to bear fruit, I must remain in Him."
John 15:5 says, "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I inhim, he will bear much fruit..."
Fruit...what exactly was Jesus referring to when He said that if we want FRUIT, we must remain in Him? For years, I've taught and believed that "spiritual fruit" meant that we were making disciples. You know, leading people to Christ, helping lay a spiritual foundation in their lives, baptizing them and all of that. But, I've met some people before that were godly people that read their Bible's daily, raised great kids, tithed regularly, never cheated on their taxes, always had a smile on their face, and genuinely had a sincere and deep relationship with Jesus...you could say they were "remaining" or "abiding" in Him. But, they never led more than a handful of people to Christ and made very few disciples. This passage says that the person remaining in Jesus would bear MUCH fruit...a handful isn't MUCH at all!!!
However, one thing I noticed about the people I described above is that they had a different kind of fruit. They had a fruit that the Bible refers to in Galatians 5:22-23. It says "the FRUIT of the SPIRIT is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control; against such things there is no law." They not only had this fruit, they had MUCH of it. It was clearly the result of being with Jesus! Let's look at the alternative...time AWAY from Jesus. That fruit would be anger, sorrow, anxiety, frustration, mean spirit, deceit, hypocrisy, abuse and over-indulgence. Hmmm, which one sounds more appealing?
So often we focus the success of our lives based on how much "disciple" fruit we are bearing, and not the spiritual fruit. This isn't to say that evangelism and discipleship aren't important...they absolutely are. But trying to make disciples without having the Galatians 5 arsenal of fruit is a waste of time. We will frustrate the new believer more than help them. We must bear His kind of fruit first. This only comes by remaining in Him.
That's why we are always hearing how important it is to read our Bibles, pray, worship, fellowship and share Christ with others. All of these things keep us abiding in Him. Make a priority today to spend at least 5 minutes a day with Him. Allow that to increase as your consistency increases. You will find that it is the best part of your day, and it produces the fruit you need!
John 15:5 says, "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I inhim, he will bear much fruit..."
Fruit...what exactly was Jesus referring to when He said that if we want FRUIT, we must remain in Him? For years, I've taught and believed that "spiritual fruit" meant that we were making disciples. You know, leading people to Christ, helping lay a spiritual foundation in their lives, baptizing them and all of that. But, I've met some people before that were godly people that read their Bible's daily, raised great kids, tithed regularly, never cheated on their taxes, always had a smile on their face, and genuinely had a sincere and deep relationship with Jesus...you could say they were "remaining" or "abiding" in Him. But, they never led more than a handful of people to Christ and made very few disciples. This passage says that the person remaining in Jesus would bear MUCH fruit...a handful isn't MUCH at all!!!
However, one thing I noticed about the people I described above is that they had a different kind of fruit. They had a fruit that the Bible refers to in Galatians 5:22-23. It says "the FRUIT of the SPIRIT is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control; against such things there is no law." They not only had this fruit, they had MUCH of it. It was clearly the result of being with Jesus! Let's look at the alternative...time AWAY from Jesus. That fruit would be anger, sorrow, anxiety, frustration, mean spirit, deceit, hypocrisy, abuse and over-indulgence. Hmmm, which one sounds more appealing?
So often we focus the success of our lives based on how much "disciple" fruit we are bearing, and not the spiritual fruit. This isn't to say that evangelism and discipleship aren't important...they absolutely are. But trying to make disciples without having the Galatians 5 arsenal of fruit is a waste of time. We will frustrate the new believer more than help them. We must bear His kind of fruit first. This only comes by remaining in Him.
That's why we are always hearing how important it is to read our Bibles, pray, worship, fellowship and share Christ with others. All of these things keep us abiding in Him. Make a priority today to spend at least 5 minutes a day with Him. Allow that to increase as your consistency increases. You will find that it is the best part of your day, and it produces the fruit you need!
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