Necessary Fruit Analysis

"If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned." John 15:6

"You will know them by their fruits..." Matthew 7:16 a

Often times the portion of Matthew 7:16 comes to me mind, both directed at me and others. Every once and awhile someone I know professes their faith in God, and yes, I start to analysis their fruit. In Matthew 7, Jesus is warning people to beware of false prophets. It's this chapter that we get the saying, "wolf in sheep's clothing" from, because they exist. So often we are told not to judge; people pull out the "judge not, that you be not judged" verse as their weapon of choice, which is the first verse of this chapter in Matthew. Please read, carefully, the entire chapter to see that you aren't told not to judge at all!

Sorry, I digress! Jesus goes on in Matthew 7 to talk about the fruit, how you can't get bad fruit from a good tree. So I wonder about the fruit that others produce. Is it good? Can I tell if they are really part of the Vine or do I suspect that they are just claiming branch-hood. Then I wonder if the lack of fruit I might see is actually one of those branches in their lives that needs to be pruned. Let's face it, we all have things in our lives, branches. that need pruning.

The verse from John is not about pruning though. It is about branch removal. If we produce no fruit that is evidence that we abide in Him, then we are cut off and thrown into the fire. God gives us many chance, Just check out the lives of those He called faithful and you'll see he gave them many! Yet there comes a point where one's not abiding in Him results in separation from God. Once the branch is burned it doesn't become a branch again. You can be pruned and produce even better fruit, but you can't be cut off and produce any.

 I wonder if there is anything that I do or say that shows fruit from abiding in Him more than not. I am definitely in that "needs-some-pruning" group. I wonder if others see too much bruised fruit in my life. I want people to know me by good fruit. Too often I get caught up in me and produce selfish fruit. That is one negative fruit I am know I produce. Mind you, God has pruned some of it away, I hope more is pruned than not, but I know some is still there. I don't want people to see selfish fruit when they look at me and my life. I want the to see fruit that is evident that I am part of the Vine.

We are part of the they in Matthew 7. We need to look at our own fruit to make sure that what is being produced is evidence of abiding in Him and not evidence of being a sheep in wolf's clothing. This makes me want to abide more deeply. I want to be known by the fruit of God.

Fruitful or Fruitless?

"I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit: for without Me you can do nothing." John 15:5

Ever feel like nothing you try works? Like you can barely function? I've been there, and ore than once. I'm sure most people have. Then of course, there are the times, although they seem less frequent, where everything I touch just works better. Being honest, I usually get pretty cocky when the latter happens and blame the former on God. But I have it backwards.

During those times when nothing seems to go right, it may be because I'm doing things in my own power. Trying to grab fruit from other sources, and they are bruised or rotten. It's not God's fault that I'm not producing, because I'm also not abiding. I need to abide in Him to produce the fruit.

When I'm feeling all important and proud of myself, I need to stop! Those mountain top experiences aren't because I'm such a great climber, and besides I'm scared of climbing (not of heights but of falling). I didn't get myself up there, and I can't keep myself producing either. It came from abiding in Him, but look how quickly I made it about me! Not only do I need to abide in Him, but I need to live in gratefulness to Him.

The Bible also makes it clear that there is a time for everything, including a time to reap and a time to sow. Abiding in Christ does not mean there will always be an abundant amount of fruit. Sometimes the fruit must go to seed, bud, and flower before it is fruit again. Just because you feel fruitless doesn't mean you aren't abiding in Christ. There is a difference in abiding and waiting for fruit, and trying to produce fruit in your own power. The key to knowing the difference? Contemplate who you are abiding in, in Christ you'll find peace and in yourself you'll finding striving.

Abiding in the Vine

"Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me." John 15:4

Do you ever feel dull, bland, um fruitless? I do! There are times when I just have such a blah feeling about myself, a bored feeling. I'm not talking about self-esteem, but rather that I'm producing anything of value. It's almost always a surprise to me when I get in that state, that I'm even like that. Then I start to think, "when was the last time I spent any real time in the Word or in prayer?"

I don't know about anybody else, but there are too many times when I just go through the motions of reading the Bible. There are times when my prayers are nothing more than a "thank you for the day" and "I would like....". Then there are also those times when I have to stop and think about when was the last time I even read my Bible or prayed sincerely. Honestly, these times come far too often.

Yet, the fruitless feelings that I experience are unpleasant, they are good because they remind me that I need to abide in Him. They draw my back to the Word and back into prayer. This happened recently, and as I opened my Bible I found myself staring down at the words of John 15. Honestly, I  haven't been able to move on to chapter 16 yet. I keep rereading the words of John 15, especially this section about the branches and the vine. God is trying to speak something into me through this chapter, something deeper than the obviousness of the words.

Let God draw you to His Word, to a particular section. Let Him speak something deep inside of you based and abide in Him there. He has different words for each of us, and words for us in different seasons of our lives. Abide in Him and find out what Word He is developing in you, what Word He is revealing to you, what Word He is equipping you through. Be the branch that abides in Him.

Branch Pruning

"Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit." John 15:2

When I am going through a tough time in my life, I feel those shears. You know the ones that are cutting you deeply, and you wonder if you'll make it through. Things that matter to me are removed. It feels like everything I love or hold dear is being removed from me life. I've called out to God on more than one occasion in pain and anger asking why He is hurting me like this. Sometimes satan has even whispered in my ear that God is cutting me off.

The truth is that He is pruning me. If you've ever pruned a plant you know that sometimes you have to cut off some growth that is old and weak and sometimes you have to cut off something that appears to be healthy. I have azaleas and   one year my largest azalea did not blossom. There were hundreds, maybe even a thousand buds looking like they were ready to bloom at anytime, but they never did. The other azaleas bloomed, although honestly not as well as the year before, but this one's buds went from bright pink to brown and died. I was honestly, very upset. I couldn't understand what had happened! So I started to research.

As I read about azaleas, I learned about pruning them. I had yet to prune these magnificent bushes, and had no idea how to go about it. It turns out that y large azalea bush was in desperate need of some pruning! I read about what to cut, which turned out to be old steams as well as those that had just finished flowering. I went out with my pruning tools and started to chop away at the bush. When I finished, I moved on to the others and trimmed them as well. Then I had to wait.

The following Spring I would know if my pruning would pay off or not. Sure enough hundreds of buds appeared on the big azalea. Soon the glorious bright pink blossoms burst forth all over the bush. As my other azaleas budded and bloomed the same thing happened, red, white, and light pink blooms filled up the bushes. The pruning had worked.

When God prunes us, it hurts! It feels like He takes the good with the bad as He chops and tosses away. It feels like we are left small and lacking. What we don't see is that we are shaped better, without these off shoots or dead branches. Then after a time of healing we start to notice that we have new things budding in our lives. We get excited as we watch those buds open and display a beautiful bloom. Many times we are so caught up in the newness, we forget that there ever was a tie of pruning, a time of removal of something that we were used to or something that appeared good. We may forget, but God remembers how He shaped us, and sees that it is good.

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