Monday Musings - Fruit - Part 1

I have been reading Galatians this week and today I came across that very familiar passage in chapter 5, vs 22 about the fruit of the Spirit . . .


But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control, against such things there is no law . . . if we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit (let us keep in step with the Spirit.)


Suddenly, my mind was filled with all these images of fruit!  Not so much literal fruit, as all the imagery that is used in the Scripture to describe our Christ-filled life as it is lived out.


Proverbs 11:30   A good life is a fruit bearing tree


Matthew 12:33  The fruit tells you about the tree


Romans 11  If . . . the primary root of the tree is holy, there's bound to be some holy fruit


Philippians 1:10   . . . bountiful with fruits from the soul


Colossians 1:6   . . . the message bears fruit and gets larger and stronger, just as it has in you.


James 2   . . . our faith should be fruitful


So, I would say that the Lord is concerned about the fruit our lives are bearing.    This passage in Galatians tells us that the Spirit has given us this fruit already.  We have it - but we still have to choose to display it.

Can I just say that some of us are hiding our fruit?

John 15 is one of my favorite passages about this subject.  "Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit."  

Pruning . . . Last fall, Alan and I went to an apple orchard in Minnesota.  Beautiful.  There was a shed at the beginning of the orchard where they had a display of old tools.  I was intrigued by these signs.

So - when the Lord is pruning me, it is to maintain my spiritual health.  He cuts out the dead, diseased and injured wood so that I can flourish in my walk with Him.  Some of this pruning is a bit painful, but it is necessary.

How about preventing trouble?  Oh yeah.  There are those little sins and habits that I start to baby and nourish - the Lord, in His mercy, just cuts that stuff out.


Pruning also controls growth and form.  The Lord is shaping me into the image of His Son.  He uses the joys and trials of my life to mold and shape me into that form.  

Look at encouraging the yield - I love this one.  The Lord wants to produce just the right kind of fruit in my life.  Removing fruit spurs make fewer blossoms (you know, the showy, outer stuff) but it makes the fruit larger.  Hmmm . . .  that is something to ponder.

When I saw this list of tools, I started thinking about all the ways the Lord has brought pruning into my life.  Sometimes, those small one-handed pruning shears were enough.  I was attentive and obedient rather quickly and the pruning was fairly easy.  I have certainly experienced the lopping shears.  OUCH  Sometimes, that dead thing just had to go and go quickly.  Then we moved into the saws . . . Perhaps some stubborn disobedience or a season where my ears became dull to the whispers of the Lord.  The serious tools had to be brought out.  Lord, help me, when the power pruners have to come out.  My prayer is that I will be much more pliable than that.  

Is that enough for you to ponder today?

  

Do you need to speak to the Lord about your pruning?  

I'm going to continue this on my next Monday Musing.  Stay tuned for more pruning information . . . In the meantime, go and bear good fruit for the Kingdom.