Written by Kim Solis, volunteer with Iron Rose Sister Ministries in Oregon
As I sit at my desk in Keizer, Oregon, looking out at the barren winter landscape, contemplating this blog post on the process of bearing fruit, I am munching on a special treat produced by bushes in my own back yard: frozen blueberries - sweet and satisfying, a reminder of the abundant late summer harvest. It’s funny, I am a terrible gardener, yet these bushes produce the most delicious berries. Why? I know there are external factors that affect plant growth — rain levels, sun, temperatures— but I also know that I haven’t done anything to control those factors except turn on the sprinkler system so they would survive in the summer heat. My bushes bear fruit simply because it’s what healthy blueberry bushes do.
When I apply this to my own process of bearing fruit, I am struck by two thoughts and verses.
- Our theme verse for this year
John 15:8 says that when we bear fruit, we are giving glory to God and showing ourselves to be His disciples.
I would not know what kind of bushes were in my yard if not for the fruit they bear. One year, I cut them back too much for the winter, and they didn’t produce any fruit the next summer. I thought I had killed them, but thankfully, the year after that, they produced even more abundantly than ever, and the berries were even larger and sweeter than before. That is a whole other analogy to draw from, but the point is clear – fruit lets us know the kind of plant and the state of its health.
I invite you to analyze just what kind of fruit you are producing and what it says about your relationship with God. Can people tell you are a disciple by your fruit?
- The Parable of the Sower in Matthew 13
When I moved into this house nearly four years ago, there were also two empty garden beds waiting for seed to be sown. I have tried corn, squash, tomatoes, peppers, and now blackberries and raspberries. I have seen plants grow and wither, weeds sprout and flourish, crops sickly and abundant, and the words of the parable have become images in my mind, proven by my own garden. Some seeds bear fruit, and some do not.
While the fate of my harvest has largely been due to my diligence or lack thereof, 1 Corinthians 3:7 makes it clear that, when speaking of spiritual fruit, “neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth” (ESV).
So, if I do not actually control the growth, what then is my role in the production of fruit for the Kingdom?
I am simply the sower, scattering seed as I go along my way… as I go to school, as I go to work, as I interact with those around me. Like a dandelion head, white and fuzzy, caught by a breeze.
Seeds are simply the product of the fruit that already exists; the part that is dispersed in hopes it will take root and bring forth another plant. When the Word of God takes root in our hearts, it produces the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, and when this fruit matures, it overflows into the lives of those around us through our Christ-like actions, sowing itself in the soil of their hearts. Our fruit is not our zeal, our obedience, our sinlessness, or our knowledge, but rather the way we act and interact with others.
What fruit is evident in your life, words, and actions?
What seeds are you sowing in the hearts of those around you?
