Big Fruit!

$1.99/lb for cherries! What a bargain, right? I ran to the supermarket to get 2 lbs. I usually buy my produce in a gourmet market that I pass every day going to work. Some things there are quite expensive, but since the produce usually is reasonable and is excellent quality, I get it there. But they never have cherries for $1.99/lb., so I thought I was getting quite a bargain. But you get what you pay for! The gourmet store cherry is on the left; the supermarket cherry is on the right.

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I prefer big, juicy, ripe fruit. Don't you? And we're not the only ones. God does too!

Paul describes the fruit of the Spirit in his letter to the church at Galatia: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Gal. 5:22-23

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How do we get that good juicy fruit?

Jesus tells us, "I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples." John 15:1-8

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So if I want to "bear much fruit," I must yield to the pruning process (ouch!), and I must remain in Him and His words must remain in me. A few years ago, I purchased 2 climbing hydrangea vines. They are supposed to produce flowers in shady locations. So far, no flowers. When I brought my complaint to the center where I bought them, I was asked if the vine had grown. Oh, yes, it's enormous, but no flowers. I was instructed that all the plant's efforts are going toward the new growth instead of blooms, so I was to cut the plant back and be sure to fertilize (feed) the plant. Good advice!

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Spiritually, we must allow God to cut out the activities and attitudes that don't produce good fruit. Imagine asking a plant if it hurt to be pruned. That'd be a "yes!" But God is more concerned with our character than our comfort, and like the faithful, caring, loving gardener He is, He lops off anything which would otherwise suck the life out of that which is fruit bearing. Don't resist the pruning process - it will only hurt more. Corrie ten Boom once said that she learned to hold things loosely in her hand because it hurts more if the Father has to pry it out of her tight fist.

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And we must be fed by His Word which will produce healthy fruit. If we replace those unfruitful activities with time spent reading and studying, we allow the words of life to nourish our souls and ultimately grow big fruit.

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And I pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. Col. 1:10-12

Susan