By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit. (John 15:8 (NKJV))

Do you want to glorify God the Father? If so, ask yourself how much fruit you’ve been producing. The Bible tells us that we glorify Him by bearing much fruit.

What is Fruit?

In addition to other fruit (see, e.g., John 4:36; Ephesians 5:8-9), the Bible teaches us that “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Galatians 5:22 (NKJV)). Those qualities describe Jesus. Jesus is love. He is patient. Jesus is perfectly all of those things.

You may or may not have had those qualities (to some extent) before you started following Jesus. But after you came to Him, the Father began the process of changing you into His image.

If you look at your life before you came to Jesus and compare it to your life since then, you will likely see a difference. You’ll be able to see more and more of the fruit of the Spirit the longer you walk with Jesus.

How do you produce fruit?

We can’t become more loving, patient, kind, gentle, etc. on our own. In teaching us about fruit, Jesus used a metaphor in which He compared Himself to a vine and us to branches (John 15:5). It’s a great metaphor because it helps us to easily understand Jesus’ teaching by looking at a grapevine or a tree.

Have you ever seen a tree straining to bear fruit? Of course not. A silly image comes to my mind of a little face on the tree, clenching its jaw and branches, hoping the fruit will pop out.

Like the tree, we don’t need to strive either. We can’t produce fruit on our own. Instead, it’s a process of letting God work in and through you. You still participate. But it’s only through the strength of God’s Spirit that we produce fruit (Zechariah 4:6).

Jesus told us how to produce fruit. When we (as branches) are attached to Jesus (the true vine), we’re abiding in Him.

If we’re not abiding in Jesus, we can do nothing, and we won’t produce fruit (John 15:5). But when we abide in Him, we bear fruit (John 15:5). The fruit naturally flows from you when you abide in Jesus.

Just like a branch on a grapevine won’t produce any grapes if it isn’t attached to the vine, we won’t produce any fruit if we’re not attached to Jesus. A branch that is detached from the vine dries up, withers, and dies. The branch needs the nourishment it gets from being attached to the vine or it won’t be fruitful.

How do you produce much fruit?

Jesus said that we will bear “much fruit” if we abide in Him and He in us (John 15:5 (NKJV)). So, what does it mean to abide?

The word abide means to be present or remain. We need to remain in Jesus, to be present with Him. You’re not abiding if you get a little closer but aren’t attached to Him. If you’re reading your Bible and saying repetitious prayers so you can check it off your list, you’re not abiding.

But if you’re

• relying on Jesus for everything as you go through your day,
• reading the Bible because you want to learn more about Him,
• praying because you need His strength or direction
• singing praises to Him because you’re thankful for all He’s doing in your life, and
• obeying when you know God wants you to do something,

then you’re abiding in Jesus.

And, abiding some of the time is not enough. We need to abide in Jesus all of the time. There is a direct correlation between the amount of time you spend with Jesus and the amount of fruit you produce.

So, be present with Jesus all day, every day. Then, watch the fruit grow in and through your life as you walk by faith with Him.

 

Photo by Rohit Tandon on Unsplash