What Fruit Are You Bearing?

Have you ever thought about your life in light of the “fruit” that is produced from it?

​Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. (John 15:2 ESV)

You’ve heard this verse being read before in Sunday School or in a sermon. But have you thought about what the real implications of this verse are in your life or for your life? Look at what Jesus says here, “he takes away” those branches that do not bear fruit and “he prunes” those branches that bears fruit. These are tough statements about the reality of our lives: on the one hand, we will die if we do nothing; and, on the other hand, we face certain pain to manifest more fruit. But what is this “fruit” that Jesus is talking about and how do we produce it in our lives?

This “fruit” is the manifestation of “love” empowered by the Holy Spirit that lives in us. In chapter 14 of John, Jesus promises that the Holy Spirit will come and be with us to give us the strength we need, when we need it. Moreover, we know that the “fruit” of our lives is love because Jesus is love because God is love and if we are the branches of love, then our fruit must be love (the Apostle Paul writes in Galatians 5:22-23 about the fruit of love and I encourage you to read it).

If love is not manifested in our lives, and I don’t mean the romantic type of love which is constantly fleeting in every song you hear on the radio, then what is the point of our lives? When God puts difficulties in our lives, is it not so that we can learn and now how to love more and better as we have gone through the difficult process of becoming more than what we are?

Our lives must be about love. Everything we do should be a function of how love manifests itself in us or through us. Our very lives must become the love that allow people to thrive. What Fruit Are You Bearing?