Fruitful or Fruitless Part 1
My mom used to collect artificial fruit for different purposes. Artificial fruit are
beautifully colored to show the beauty of God’s creation without having to deal
with rotting bananas, shriveled grapes, or the pesky fruit flies. The humorous part
is watching someone bite into a shiny red apple only to get their teeth stuck in
plastic. In my younger days, I spent a lot of time observing people in church, so I
decided to call them fruit people. Here are some examples:
• Real Fruit believers look good, taste good, and grow because of a strong and
healthy relationship with the source of nutrients (Jesus). They do all they can to
live in obedience to the Father and His will. They love to hear His voice and have
given Him freedom to order their steps and speak into their lives.
• Alexandrite fruit believers are like gemstones that change color depending on the
light. Just like a chameleon, they change to blend in so as not to appear strange or
different. These people-pleasers keep Jesus in the closet.
• Glass Fruit believers look beautiful and shiny on the outside but have allowed
life’s situations to make them brittle on the inside. They crack easily with emotions
of bitterness, anger, or envy. They have not allowed for a loving and forgiving
heart to free them.
• Wooden Fruit believers leave splinters wherever they go. With hearts that have
become hardened by hurt and pain, they prick anyone who gets too close. They run
from the community of believers and from a healing Father.
• Plastic Fruit believers look good but have no substance because they have a
shallow relationship with the Father. The enemy continuously steals the Word from
their hearts and they use their emotions as a gauge to live by instead of a gauge to
know something is wrong. Everything is more important than drawing near to God.
“Surely God understands that life is full of busy schedules.”
The Word of God tells us the only way to be “real” fruit believers is to abide in
Christ. “If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from
me you can do nothing.” So, ask yourself, “What type of fruit does the world see
when they see me in action?”
beautifully colored to show the beauty of God’s creation without having to deal
with rotting bananas, shriveled grapes, or the pesky fruit flies. The humorous part
is watching someone bite into a shiny red apple only to get their teeth stuck in
plastic. In my younger days, I spent a lot of time observing people in church, so I
decided to call them fruit people. Here are some examples:
• Real Fruit believers look good, taste good, and grow because of a strong and
healthy relationship with the source of nutrients (Jesus). They do all they can to
live in obedience to the Father and His will. They love to hear His voice and have
given Him freedom to order their steps and speak into their lives.
• Alexandrite fruit believers are like gemstones that change color depending on the
light. Just like a chameleon, they change to blend in so as not to appear strange or
different. These people-pleasers keep Jesus in the closet.
• Glass Fruit believers look beautiful and shiny on the outside but have allowed
life’s situations to make them brittle on the inside. They crack easily with emotions
of bitterness, anger, or envy. They have not allowed for a loving and forgiving
heart to free them.
• Wooden Fruit believers leave splinters wherever they go. With hearts that have
become hardened by hurt and pain, they prick anyone who gets too close. They run
from the community of believers and from a healing Father.
• Plastic Fruit believers look good but have no substance because they have a
shallow relationship with the Father. The enemy continuously steals the Word from
their hearts and they use their emotions as a gauge to live by instead of a gauge to
know something is wrong. Everything is more important than drawing near to God.
“Surely God understands that life is full of busy schedules.”
The Word of God tells us the only way to be “real” fruit believers is to abide in
Christ. “If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from
me you can do nothing.” So, ask yourself, “What type of fruit does the world see
when they see me in action?”