Bearing Fruit
“When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father.”
(John 15:8, NLT)
In my grandma’s backyard there was a HUGE peach tree. When I went to visit her, I couldn’t get over the amount of fruit on the tree. There were always peaches everywhere. Every time I visited, she would ask me to go out and pick them. Of course, my sweet golden shepherd, Caleb, would help as well. We would always come back inside with peaches overflowing the buckets. They were the sweetest peaches.
When I asked my grandma when she planted that tree – she told me it was planted about six or seven years ago, and for many years, it bore no fruit. NONE. Think about that. It took years – lots of patience, perseverance and consistency to produce great, sweet fruit.
My grandma and my mom would often prune the tree and lovingly take care of it. Every year they would wait. For a couple of years they may have gotten a handful of peaches, but that was about it. Then, suddenly one year, the tree began to flourish and grow.
This reminded me about what the disciple John wrote about when Jesus talked about bearing fruit. “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5)
It takes time. Sometimes it takes pruning.
You may be in the planting process – just the beginning stages of your dream – and you are waiting for it to flourish. Keep going!
Maybe you are going through some pruning. Man oh man, that can be tough – but trust and take heart, God prunes and refines so we learn and grow and bear much fruit.
The key is to stay close to God and spend time with Him.
God wants to see us flourish. He wants us to grow and produce great, sweet fruit, just like this beautiful peach tree.
Prayer: Father, we thank You that You are the gardener and the source of every good and perfect gift from above. Thank You for cutting off any branch in our lives that will not produce good fruit. Help us to grow closer to You and Help us to stay close to You. Encourage us today and help us to be a blessing to someone else – so we can point them to You. We thank you for all of what You are doing. In Jesus’ mighty name. Amen.
We hope and pray this encourages you today! Please know we are praying for you!
Christine Batchelder