According to Jesus, there is only one way to see if something is alive – check its fruit.  I don’t know where we got this misconception, but many of us really don’t expect much to happen in our lives as Christ-followers.  We “signed up” for a relationship with God. We said “yes” to Jesus, but for many of us, we expected that would be the end of the deal.  We would receive forgiveness of our sins and a ticket to heaven when we die, but anything beyond that was not part of our plan.  Unfortunately, the Bible is clear:  Not only does Jesus want to give us the promise of heaven and spiritual blessing, He wants to get involved in our lives.  He wants to plant something within us that is going to take root and begin to change the way we live, impacting the actions, decisions and character of our lives.  In other words, Jesus expects to see something grow within us as a result of His presence in our lives.

If you garden or are in the habit of planting things, you know that once you plant something, you expect it to grow.  In fact, you expect a specific plant or fruit to come from your hard work.  If you plant corn, you expect to see corn eventually.  If you plant tomatoes, you expect to see tomatoes within a few months.  That’s natural. Things that are alive grow and produce fruit.  If your planting yielded nothing or something different than you expected, you would take decisive action.  It is the same way with spiritual fruit.  Jesus expects that once His Spirit has taken root in our lives, fruit will be developing and growing.  Remember, things that are alive, grow!  If the fruit of the Lord – traits such as love, joy and peace – are growing in you life day-by-day and year-by-year, something good is going on!  If not, something is wrong. And according to Jesus’ parable quoted above, things are going to have to change! To fail to produce fruit is to fail to provide the people around you a witness to the presence of God in the world.  Do you know you have huge fruit-bearing potential?  You do!  Once you believe this and allow God to do His gardening work in your life, slowly, but surely, you will see your life bear a steady crop of spiritual fruit. 

GOING DEEPER:
1. How is God’s fruit growing in you?  Do you see it?  Do others see it?

2. What is preventing the Lord’s fruit from being more alive in your life?  Ask Jesus to give you insight on those things in you that are resisting growth.  Ask the Lord for a “huge” harvest of goodness and faithfulness in you this year.

FURTHER READING:
Galatians 5:22-23; Matthew 5:3-16; Exodus 20:1-21; Matthew 7:17-20

Sometime ago, I had to call a friend, to apologize for hurting his feelings for some things I had written in an email. Perhaps like me, you’ve also found that it is very easy to write what you would not have the nerve to say if you were looking your friend right in the eye. I call these out-of-the-blue comments that hurt others “email missiles."

In this culture of email, texting and instant messaging, here’s a reminder: These electronic forms of communication do not take the place of a living, breathing face-to-face relationships. Relationships are most meaningful as they are lived out face-to-face and heart-to-heart. When misunderstandings arise, it takes fortitude and love to face a person and pour out your heart. Yet, that’s what is necessary for relationships to be all that God designed.

Paul’s letter to the Ephesians is filled with practical insights on how relationships thrive in the Kingdom of God. Relationships do best when they are lived in the spirit of Jesus’ love and with a dedication to honest, forthright and transparent communication. Imagine if all our relationships could be lived out as a carbon copy of the relationship that Jesus has with each of us. Imagine what would happen if we stretched ourselves to give grace and mercy to each of those who live in our sphere of relationships. Today, let's strive to live out our relationships as God designed them to be lived.