Good Fruit
We are known by what our lives bring forth. This fruit testifies to what lies buried in our hearts. It reveals what we contemplate when no one is around, and casts light upon our hidden places. Perhaps we might believe that if we have neutral fruit, we will be okay. If our lives neither offend the world nor God, perhaps we can skim in under God’s radar. Unfortunately, that simply is not true. As Adam Clarke wrote, “Not to have good fruit is to have evil: there can be no innocent sterility in the invisible tree of the heart. He that brings forth no fruit, and he that brings forth bad fruit, are both only fit for the fire.”
This reminds me of another teaching of Jesus found in John 15:1-6. Here we read: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch of mine that bears no fruit, he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. You are already made clean by the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”
This is why we call him “Lord, Lord.” That title means more than another name for God. It means master. The lord is the person who owns the people. It is he who has control over them. His decisions are the only ones that matter. His will is the only one we want and strive for. If we call him Lord, we sell ourselves into his control. We become the branch that is grafted into the living vine. Alone, we wither and die. When we are embedded into our Savior, sold as his property, then we begin to bear fruit. This fruit reveals our relationship. It will be good. It will put the needs of others above our own. It will bring peace. It will breed love. This is the fruit the world needs.
(Written by Keegan Harkins.)
Clarke, Adam "Clarke's Commentary: The Holy Bible Containing the Old and New Testaments with a Commentary and Critical Notes" Volume 5 (Matthew-Acts) (New York: Eaton and Mains, 1832)
Comments