How to Bear Fruit
“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” Galatians 5:22
I strive to produce fruits of the Spirit. I desperately want to be loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle and self-controlled. I hope that if I clench and squeeze with all my might, I will push out those fruits.
After years of trying, I can say conclusively that clenching and squeezing hasn’t helped me materialize any peace or joy. For me the only crop this technique successfully produces is anxiety.
If clenching and squeezing and pushing and striving doesn’t produce love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control, then what does? How do I become spiritually fruit-bearing?
Zucchini has taught me something about this.
My mom in Michigan grows zucchinis the size of small dogs and in such abundance that she can feed the whole town.
Last year I attempted to grow zucchini in my little backyard garden. In a few weeks, I had a thick vine with several enormous yellow blossoms. I spotted a single pre-zucchini starting to fatten under one of the umbrella leaves. Delight!
My delight turned to confusion when I noticed the zucchini was failing to thrive. Confusion became despair when I saw the base of the vine. It was a rotten and mangled mess. My zucchini plant had been attacked by vine borers – fat, white, grub-like jerks that eat the vine from the inside out.
Despite being barely attached to the main vine, the poor zucchini plant continued to struggle along, even pushing out a few weak leaves. It was alive, but it was not flourishing. Try as it might, it was not going to bear any fruit.
The vine is the source of life and vigor for the plant. All of the nutrients flow up through it into the branches and leaves and ultimately the fruit (or, in this case, vegetable). If I want a good harvest, I have to have healthy branches that are securely attached to the vine.
In the gospel of John, we read Jesus’ teaching about how to bear good fruit though our lives.
Jesus said, “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.” John 15:1-2
“Remain in me, as I also 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 and you are the branches. The one who remains in Me, and I in him, will bear much fruit. Apart from Me you can do nothing.” John 15:4-5
If I believe Jesus’ words, then first of all there is nothing I can do to force out the fruit. The fruit comes naturally as a result of my healthy attachment to the vine.
Second, if my existence is not full of vigor, something is wrong with my connection to the vine. Jesus’ instruction to his disciples is to “remain in Him.” I have been thinking about what it looks like to remain in Him. The word remain is sometimes translated as abide, or to stay. As I see it, my responsibility is to use my God-given agency to protect my connection to God through Jesus, who is the source of life and vitality.
John 10:10 records these words of Jesus: “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.”
It takes some investigative work to identify the vine borers that chronically or acutely damage the flow of the Spirit to me and through me. Once I’ve found them, I need to eradicate them.
If we go back to the zucchini plant, here are instructions for how rid one’s vine of the damaging borers:
Identify the damaged part of the vine. Use a sharp, clean knife and make a cut to expose the grub-like vine borer. Pull it out and kill it.
I’ll be honest, when I learned this is how to fix my zucchini problem, I was like, nah, I’m good. I am not that fond of zucchini. Eradicating the vine borer is painful and difficult, and requires fortitude and a strong stomach. You have to really want that zucchini.
Today as I write this, I have recognized damage in my connection to the vine. It shows up as times I’ve stayed quiet when I should speak up; or hung back when I should step forward; or listened to a lie that is louder than the quiet whisper of truth and love.
If I make the cut to see what’s eating the vine and behind these behaviors, I will find a gross white grub named fear. Specifically fear of inadequacy and of being a disappointment.
1 John 4:18 says, “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear.”
To eradicate my vine borer named fear, I need to first decide how much I want the ‘life to the full’ that Jesus described. I remember my choice to let my zucchini plant carry on with its festering wounds in its half-alive state. I could choose to do the same with this one life I’ve been gifted.
Or, I can grit my teeth and make the cut: speak up, step forward, make the decision. Then I can lean into faith that God’s perfect love is sufficient to cause life to flow into and through my healing connection to Him. Once the wound is cleaned and healed, good fruit will come in time.
An invitation to consider
- Ask God for eyes to see and a heart to receive what He has for you today.
- Read John 15
- Jesus came so that we can have life – flourishing and fruitful. Identify something that is flourishing and fruitful. Spend some time in gratitude for the life-giving nature of God that makes such things possible.
- Consider the state of your connection with your source of life and vitality; that is, God. Ask God to show you how he is restoring and regenerating His connection to you. Consider how you might care for your connection to Him.
May the Lord bless you and keep you. May He make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you. May the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.