YOUR FRUIT

FRUIT. I have always loved fruit. Even as a child it was one of my favorite snacks. I remember coming home from school one day and seeing a great big bowl of juicy ripe fruit sitting on the dining room table. I passed it by to do other things, but my mind kept going back to that delicious bowl of juicy ripe fruit. Finally, I found myself, hungry, back at the table, reaching for apple, only to discover that it was artificial. Needless to say I was disappointed. Christians, they’ve always fascinated me, from a distance. I found it fascinating that one could receive peace and strength from a source outside one’s self.One day I met a Christian. I spent some time with her, wanting to taste and see just what Christianity was all about. I got to know her, inside and out, only to discover that she was artificial. Needless to say, I was disappointed.

 JOHN 15:8 By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. 

 I think we have all at one time or another been deceived by how something might look from the outside. We may have met someone that was very attractive that turned out to not be very nice or you may have gone car shopping and realized that the shiny new car doesn’t look that shiny and new underneath the hood.

 I was driving down 41 a while back and I passed a homeless person on the side of the road. I was on my way to work and I didn’t want to be late, but I felt so convicted to go back and give him my lunch and couple bottles of water. I kept driving and about ten minutes later. I couldn’t take it anymore. I turned my car around and drove back to the man, knowing I was going to be late for work. When I pulled to the side of the road and rolled down my window. I tried to hand the man the waters and food out the window as I told him that I felt God wanted me to give Him these items. He looked me straight in the face and said, “I don’t need that. God just wanted to see if you would be obedient.” He then told me that he was a minister that God had called to live on the streets to reach the lost in places so many might not go. I left him that day, feeling so disoriented by how God could speak so deeply to my heart through a man that I would have never thought would have anything to offer me. I mean, I had a job, a house, and a car. And I had Jesus. What could this homeless man possibly have to offer me? Sure I had been praying that God speak to me and let me hear His voice, but if you had put that man in a lineup and asked me whom God would use to strengthen my faith, he would have probably been the last I would have chosen.

Jesus Curses the Fig Tree

MATTHEW 21:18 In the morning, as he was returning to the city, he became hungry. 19 And seeing a fig tree by the wayside, he went to it and found nothing on it but only leaves. And he said to it, “May no fruit ever come from you again!” And the fig tree withered at once.

I remember hearing this story as a girl and I didn’t understand why Jesus would cause the fig tree to wither away, I mean if anything, why wouldn’t he force it to grow fruit? He was hungry right?But then again He isn’t forcing me to grow fruit and I meet so many people every single day that are hungry, that don’t know Him as their Savior. You probably see people too that don’t know the Lord. Many of them are hurting, not only physically but emotionally. They might be lonely or angry or scared.Maybe the bigger question might be why wasn’t the fig tree producing fruit? And what is it that might be hindering our lives from producing fruit?Is it bitterness, anger? Unforgiveness? Am I too busy? Too worried I might be late to work or to lunch? Am I missing an opportunity to share Jesus with someone because I watch too much television or I ignore him in the hallway because he doesn’t look like me, talk like me, or smell like me?When I in third grade we moved to a new neighborhood. There was a girl that lived a few doors down. Her name was Lisa. She was my age, but her parents smoked cigarettes and I thought she smelled funny. Overtime I accepted that she couldn’t help how her clothes smelled and she became a very good friend to me. Her parents were always fighting and she loved coming over to my house to escape the dysfunction and yelling. She felt loved at our home. I’m glad I didn’t let my nose get in the way of that.How many people are around us that are going hungry because we are offering them no fruit? They might not need a banana, they might need a smile or a thank you, or they might need you to pray for them.

Galatians 5:22-23   22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control.

JOHN 15:8   By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.