Bearing Fruit

On a recent trip to Florida, my friends and I were out for a ride one day enjoying the sunshine and scenery. I noticed a huge orange grove on my right and decided that we should stop and pick our own. There were hundreds, maybe thousands of trees in straight lines as far as my eyes could see. The ground around the trees were full of oranges that seemed to have fallen off and the branches hung heavy with the sweet fruit waiting to be picked and enjoyed.

We pulled up to the entrance, parked, went in and our purchased our passes. We were giddy as we set out to fill our baskets provided for us at the office.

As I walked through the trees, I was amazed at how much fruit ONE tree alone can bear. I thought about how many people had enjoyed the fruit of that tree by itself over the years and how many thousands of people are able to get nourishment from trees in that grove all by itself. I was in awe of how helpful those trees were to us as humans to bear fruit for our benefit. To help us grow strong and stay healthy.

My friends and I loaded our baskets in the car and headed back to our condo. We laughed as we discussed what in the world we would do with all of the oranges we'd gathered. Out of the blue, it hit me. We could take our extra fruit and distribute it to some shelters in the area. After googling homeless shelters in that particular city, we laid out some oranges for ourselves, jumped in the car and headed out to take the less fortunate some of what we had.

I explained to the person in charge that we thought it would fun to visit a grove and pick fruit, but we had more than enough and wanted to give to others as well, instead of letting it go to waste. She was thankful for the gift and inquired as to exactly which grove we'd been because she might try to organize something to get there and do what we'd done after we left for home. I told her and we went away happy.

That evening while sitting on the beach, I thought about our escapades and how wonderful it felt to give fruit to those who probably needed it and it caused me to want to do more. I prayed and asked God to show me what I could do to help others while uplifting His name and Kingdom.

The next day, I felt led to go back to the grove once more and pick several baskets and again distribute them to the shelters. So my friends and I got ready and made the trip again, but this time it had a much deeper meaning. We realized how much we were going to help others with the fruit.

I rounded the end of a line of trees on my way to the next section, only to be greeted by a man with a chainsaw and an area roped off.

I can only assume he noticed the surprised look on my face because he began to explain that area was closed off for a while. I smiled and inquired why. He told me that was cutting down a few of the trees.

I was shocked and asked him why he would do such a thing. He explained to me that those particular trees had stopped bearing fruit and although the grove workers had done all they could do to try and remedy the problem, the trees ultimately had to come down and other new ones would take their place after the ground was prepped again. I asked him why those, in particular, had stopped bearing fruit and he told me there were several possibilities. He said maybe the trees hadn't been pruned correctly, or maybe the soil conditions had changed in that certain spot where the trees were, they could have been diseased or lastly, maybe the trees weren't getting enough sun. His explanations sounded plausible to me, I knew nothing of fruit trees after all.

I watched as he laid the chainsaw to the tree and slowly began to dismantle it, laying the branches that were once probably full of fruit, to the side to be done away with.

As I stood there looking around at how full the other trees were, I couldn't help but draw a correlation between the trees and Christians.

Like the trees, we as followers of Christ are supposed to bear fruit. Galatians 5:22 tells us that we are to bear the fruits of God's Spirit, such as love, meekness, gentleness, joy, patience, self-control and kindness. If we can accomplish that alone, our branches would be heavy like those of the groves waiting for others to come and take some for themselves.

When we first pulled up to the grove and I saw all of the beautiful brightly colored oranges hanging heavy from the limbs, I was excited to get in there and take some for myself. I believe that if we bear the fruits of God's Spirit, others around us will see what we have and they too will be excited to have some.

Just as my friends and I took the overflow of fruit to the less fortunate and hungry, we can offer our "fruits" of love, gentleness, meekness, joy, kindness, and patience to others around us who don't know Christ. That might just be the catalyst in them making the decision to follow Him. Just like the lady who ran the shelter and wanted to get others and now go to the grove herself, maybe you can cause someone to come to accept our Lord as their Savior and begin bearing fruit for Him.

There are so many scriptures in the Word of God that tells us to bear fruit and why we are to do so. In John 15, we hear Jesus say that He is the true vine and every branch that abides in Him will bear fruit and the ones who don't, cannot bear fruit. That's very clear that we MUST continue with Him if we are to bear fruit in our lives. Matthew 7:19 makes it clear what will happen to a tree that does not bear fruit, "It is hewn down and cast into the fire". Just like the grove worker was doing to the those that no longer were producing fruit, he was cutting them down to make room for more who would hopefully produce fruit.

John 15:8 tells us that, "God is glorified if we bear much fruit because it shows that we are His disciples". I don't know about you, but I want to bear fruit so that my Father in Heaven will get the glory. I want to be so full of the fruits of the Spirit that love, joy, peace, and kindness will hang heavy from my branches causing others around to take notice and want the same from Him. I want them to inquire as to where I got mine so that I can be a witness of His goodness to them.

You can find verses all in the Bible of bearing fruit and what it means to God. Take time out today to find them and learn how important it is to Him. It's more than just having something for yourself, it's having something to give to others. Those trees in the grove would not be profitable for anyone if their fruits just stayed on the branches and no one partook of it. No, trees produce fruit for the consumption of others to help sustain their lives. So we, as God's disciples MUST bear fruit for others around us to enrich them.

If you have joy and peace, love and kindness, I will say of assurance that others around you will want it as well. Those fruits alone will look like the brightly colored oranges that caught my attention on the trees causing me to want some of them.

I pray each day that God will increase and I will decrease, that's found in John 3:30. The reason I do that is because I want others to see Him in me, and not me. I want them to see the fruits that I now bear as a result of accepting Him as Lord of my life and abiding in Him each day. I believe that God wants my life and the fruit I bear to impact others for His kingdom.

Remember to work hard and Dream Big!!

Much love,

Christy