The Better The Fruit

One of my favorite chapters to read in the Bible is John 15 – “The Vine and The Branches.”

“Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing”- John 15:5; NLT

These are Jesus’ words stating that if we remain close to him, he will remain close to us, and from this close knit relationship we will bear much fruit in our lives. This verse used to get me so excited when I read it as a baby Christian. I thought, “yes If I stay close to God I will get the job I want, make the money I want, he will improve my relationship, and I will start to see blessings in my life.

I always thought the fruit that Jesus was talking about were the things that we desire in life, like a financial blessing, or a new job, or how much we will flourish and be successful. I was only thinking of earthly fruit, and all the tangible things that happen TO us and not the spiritual works that happen IN us.

While all those earthly things will very well happen due to our obedience of following God’s will, they are not the primary fruit that Jesus is referring to here. The fruits that are produced during our closeness with Jesus are, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control; otherwise known as the fruits of the spirit. The characteristics of God.

Our closeness with Jesus allows him to work on all of our inner parts like a mechanic does on a car. He gets under our hood to make sure we are functioning properly and not just pretty and shiny on the outside. These are the fruits that develop our character, make us better people, and reflect His image. I know this sounds boring, and it’s not as exciting as a new job, but these fruits are a lot more filling and long lasting. Closeness with God changes who we are on the inside before we see what He manifests on the outside.

We often only think of what God can do for us, and not what he NEEDS to do in us. A few weeks ago I talked about being conditioned vs created. Abiding in Christ can do away with those conditions you’ve developed in your life that do not serve you well, or those around you. You know how people say you become more like the people you hang around, well imagine becoming more like Jesus the more you hang around him. Imagine having inner peace from his word. Imagine exhibiting patience through his presence, and joy from his worship.

The world doesn’t see all the work you’ve done on the inside until it reveals itself through your actions, and even your blessings. They don’t realize that your success, growth, and favor started with the fruit you produced internally. It started with you working on your patience, working on your self-control, working on being more loving.

So when you see a child of God moving up in the world just know that God has been pruning back their branches to produce those blessings; And those are the blessings that harvest every season, they’re not the ones that die off because they season has changed.