Thursday, April 19, 2012

Fruit Trees

God chose us to go and bear fruit (John 15:16) and that our fruit should remain. This is obviously a word picture. We are like fruit trees that produce fruit. But what exactly is that fruit?

We are most familiar with the list in Galatians 5:22: " Love, joy, peace, long suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control". Paul also tells us in Ephesians 5:9 that the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness and truth.

In other places scripture speaks of fruit as the outcome of our actions. I.e. Paul says to live on in the flesh means fruit for his labor (Philippians 1:18). And in Colossians iPaul speaks of the Word of God as bearing fruit throughout the world and in the believer (Colossians 1:6).

My father has a tangerine tree. The fruit tended toward bitterness. Then he fed it sugar water and the result was a fruit significantly sweeter. What we feed on regulates what fruit is produced.