Roots and fruits

 Therefore, by their fruits you will know them.

(Matthew 7:20, NKJV)

When we want to grow a certain plant, we plant a seed.  The seed which is usually small carries with it the total potential to produce the full size of the plant that we are seeking.  This is a profound truth which speaks of the faithfulness of God and His ways.  He promised that there are seasons for everything, and nature continually reminds us of the seasons as ordained by God, we see the same in the rising and setting of the sun, it is all so predictable and consistent.  The doings of God follow His principles as established and without the interference of man, nature and animals all respond to the set purposes of God for them.  We read of God sealing His promise to Noah by the faithfulness of the seasons, (Genesis 8:22) clearly states that as long as earth endures, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night will not cease.  

Beloved, this principle of God continues even to our day.  There is a continuity of everything by its own kind or seed.  God in creation spoke into being, the different kinds of vegetation, plants and fruit trees and He said that each would bear fruit after their own kind with seed in them (Genesis 1:11).  Each produces after its kind and I dare say, this is not just for vegetation but also in our lives. Just like it is possible for one to quickly confuse or misjudge a fruit, for example refer to a lemon as an orange, once we taste it or smell it we recognize what it actually is.  The taste and the smell become avenues through which the true fruit DNA is revealed.  Allow me brethren to say this applies to our lives too, we could live a life which others consider as pious but deep inside we know we are not and therefore we are acting something different from our reality.  We hide our true identity especially of a sinful or shameful nature by putting on a different personality for the acceptance of others.  Unfortunately, it is just a matter of time, just like the lemon and orange above, as others get to know us better, our true self will start to show and this to our shame, could be very different from what we have been accepted to be.

When we believe in Jesus Christ as our Lord, the bible tells us that we are a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17), and we are admonished to renew and change our minds according to the word of God (Romans 12:1-2) all this is to ensure that we are not conformed to the ways of the world and our past, but that we bear the correct fruits of the repentance that we have received (Luke 3:8).  John reminds us that we are engrafted in Jesus Christ, the true vine and our lives’ fruits will speak of our connection to the vine (John 15:1-2).  God is in the business of ensuring that we are pruned where necessary, so that our fruits align to the seed we have received of faith in Jesus Christ.  We are called to live and walk worthy of the Lord, bearing fruits which please Him in all ways (Colossians 1:10). Beloved, our lives and the fruits that we produce, speak loudly of the tree that we are deep down.  Our lives speak of the roots deep within us, and just as we know a tree by the fruit that it produces, no good tree produces bad fruit and no bad tree could produce good fruit (Matthew 12:33), so do we get to know each other and are known as well.  It is the declared will of God that we bear the fruit of the Holy Spirit who lives in us, (Galatians 5:22-23) the fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.  That is the fruit that our lives need to produce, in and out of season, it is the result of our planting and growing in Christ the true vine.  We cannot be rooted in Him and have a different fruit.

Thoughts:

What fruit do others experience of your life?

Is the fruit of your life in accordance with your faith?

If not, what do you need to do?

If yes, how can you strengthen or multiply the fruit of the Holy Spirit in you?