Fruit-bearing is an outward manifestation of inner life. You know a tree by its fruits. If it is a good tree, it will bear good fruit, but if it is a bad tree, it will bear bad fruit.
True Christians bear a fruit that is multidimensional in its manifestation. If you do not produce this fruit, you are not a Disciple of Christ! You may be a moral churchgoer or religious person, but you are not His Disciple if you do not bear this fruit.
In part 2 of this discussion, I mentioned that fruitfulness for the believer is positional. And that position is his place in Christ Jesus. He said I am the vine, and you are the branches. The branches are co-joined to the vine. There is a vital union between the two.
Paul said, Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new -2 Corinthians 5:17 NKJV.
The Amplified Version puts it this way:
Therefore if any person is [ingrafted] in Christ (the Messiah) he is a new creation (a new creature altogether); the old [previous moral and spiritual condition] has passed away. Behold, the fresh and new has come! -2 Corinthians 5:17, AMP.
Take note of the word “ingrafted” or engrafted. We are engrafted into Christ, He is now our life source, and therefore our fruitfulness depends on our remaining engrafted in Him.
Every tree or living thing produces its kind. The true Christian, as a child of God, is born of Him. The Christian has the nature of God. A careful study of John chapter 15 will show us that the fruit that identifies the Disciple of Christ is love.
God is love, and He has shed His love abroad in our hearts. We carry the seed of God’s love. We ought to blossom (flower) and ultimately produce the life and fruit of love.
As I said earlier, if your life does not produce this fruit, likely, you are not a disciple of Jesus Christ. Jesus said, By this, all will know that you are My disciples if you have love for one another (John 13:35).
John, the beloved apostle, went on further to say,
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love -1 John 4:7-8, NKJV.
If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? -1 John 4:20, NKJV.
I believe the antithesis of love is selfishness. Now is it possible for a believer not to walk in love? In the time of the Apostle Paul, the Church at Corinth demonstrated that possibility, which was rooted in the believers in that church remaining childish and not growing to spiritual maturity.
The church at Corinth manifested the gifts of the Spirit, but in character, they were unfruitful. They could speak with tongues of men and angels, but they were impatient; they manifested the gift of prophecy and understood all mysteries but they were unkind to each other; they were full of knowledge and it puffed them up; they had mountain-moving faith but they went around boasting about it in arrogance and generated envy among themselves. They would readily give their goods to feed the poor and were prepared to be martyrs, but it was all for show because they were selfish, easily angered and full of evil thoughts.
The Corinthians claimed to have the Holy Spirit, but their lives betrayed the presence of another spirit in control of their lives.
But how can we produce the fruit of the spirit? Without death, there can be no life. The only way a seed can reproduce is for it to die first. The reason many believers are unfruitful in their Christian walk is that they are very much alive to themselves. Jesus said:
Let me make this clear: A single grain of wheat will never be more than a single grain of wheat unless it drops into the ground and dies. Because then it sprouts and produces a great harvest of wheat- all because one grain died. The person who loves his life and pampers himself will miss true life! But the one who detaches his life from the world and abandons himself to me, will find true life and enjoy it forever! –John 12:24-25, TPT.
Some things can hinder the release of love, but three stand out: they are disobedience, ignorance and pride.
Love is the fruit of the Spirit quite alright, but it is also a command. The refusal to walk in love is disobedience to that command. You know the right thing to do, but you choose to do otherwise.
For many of us, we just do not know who we are. We are oblivious of the Spirit dwelling in us and what He is all about. Jesus was to go through a Samaritan village, but they refused him the thoroughfare. His disciples, James and John, were piqued that they would dare to hinder the Lord’s ministry: “Lord, give us permission to command fire from heaven to consume them, as Elijah did,” they requested.
But He turned and rebuked them, and said, “You do not know what manner of spirit you are of. For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them.” And they went to another village -Luke 9:55-56, NKJV.
Some Christians are disciples of Elijah. They want “to be another Elijah here.” Beloved, it is disciples of Jesus, not of Elijah, that have eternal life!
When Paul wrote to the Corinthians, he used the phrase, do you not know, nine times. And in one of those he asked,
Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? -1 Corinthian 3:16, NKJV.
Friend, perhaps they have told you a lie that it is difficult to obey the Lord. No, it is not. The commandments of the Lord are not hard to obey. Doing what God desires is easy with love, besides the Spirit of Christ lives in you.
If we believe that Jesus is truly Christ, we are God’s children. Everyone who loves the Father will also love his children. If we love and obey God, we know that we will love his children. We show our love for God by obeying his commandments, and they are not hard to follow. Every child of God can defeat the world, and our faith is what gives us this victory. No one can defeat the world without having faith in Jesus as the Son of God -1 John 5:1 -5, CEV.
As for pride, you are not a proud person. You cannot be because,
Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall -Proverbs 16:18, NKJV.
But the fruit produced by the Holy Spirit within you is divine love in all its varied expressions: joy that overflows, peace that subdues, kindness in action, a life full of virtue, faith that prevails, gentleness of heart and strength of spirit. Never set the law above these qualities, for they are meant to be limitless -Galatians 5:22-23, TPT.
Love is kind and patient, never jealous, boastful, proud, or rude. Love isn’t selfish or quick-tempered. It doesn’t keep a record of wrongs that others do. Love rejoices in the truth, but not in evil. Love is always supportive, loyal, hopeful, and trusting. Love never fails!
Everyone who prophesies will stop, and unknown languages will no longer be spoken. All that we know will be forgotten. We don’t know everything, and our prophecies are not complete. But what is perfect will someday appear, and what isn’t perfect will then disappear. When we were children, we thought and reasoned as children do. But when we grew up, we quit our childish ways -1 Corinthians 13:4-11, CEV.
Friend, it may seem your world will crumble or people will take advantage of you if you choose to walk in love. Nevertheless, you cannot compromise walking in love. With love, you are unstoppable. Do not go for less. It is only a matter of time! Love never fails!
Meanwhile, do not forget to keep living, loving and learning. Thank you.
Photo by Louis Hansel on Unsplash
