Action Equals Fruit

"God blessed them and said to them, "Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground." Genesis 1:28

^"4Remain in me, and I will 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.

⁵"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." John 15:4-5

One of the goals of man is to bear fruit. God told us right in the beginning that we were to bear fruit and multiply. I've often heard it said that the phrase "be fruitful" meant reproduction- having children. Of course, the more I dig into the Word of God, I learn that being fruitful most likely means something else completely- it's a direct order to bear fruit- the fruit of the Spirit, which we find in Galations 5.

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. " Galatians 5:22-23

We learn in John 15 exactly how it is that we bear fruit- and that is by remaining grounded in God. We are compared to the branches of a vine, with God being the vine. If a branch breaks off from a vine, it truly does not bear fruit. In fact, most often, it whithers up and dies- not only not producing fruit, but ceasing to even sustain life. But if we keep our branch on the vine, we will bear the fruit that we were commanded to bear.

And how do we stay connected to the vine? We stay connected to God. We read our Word. We spend time in prayer, and we spend our quiet time, simply waiting on God. The precious Bible- God's written Word to us gives us the fertilizer and the nutrients that we need to sustain growth. As I read those verses in John over again, I am greatly encouraged, because it doesn't just say that we will bear fruit if we remain in Him, it says we will bear much fruit. We will bear an abundance. How exciting is that? As I read over the fruit of the spirit, and as I think about daily life as a mom, I really can't help but get excited at the prospect of an abundance of fruit! Imagine having so much patience that my kids can't even pry up the very edges- let alone get under my skin. Imagine having so much kindness that all the neighbor kids want to play in your yard, because you're the nicest, coolest mom ever. Think about having an abundance of joy- which we know is our strength from God. How wonderful would it be to spend every day filled with the father's joy!

But we don't get any of these fruit if we just sit around and think about how wonderful it would be to be fruitful. Thoughts don't make it happen- we have to act. We have to spend a few moments with Him each and every day. And you know, we do have an understanding God. He knows there may be days where the only time He gets with you is the time you spend in the shower. I have a new nephew who was born last Friday- I know that God understands that quiet time for that household may be stolen moments in passing for awhile. In the meantime, God is watching over them, enjoying watching the family love this new little boy. Its those times when we have the time that God agonizes over. Every time I walk to the computer and spend a few minutes checking this and that instead of reading my Bible- God wishes I would just click that red X and ask Him instead.

And so, in that regard, this week I am taking action. I am not going to spend this week in folly and foolish actions. This week, I am going to spend time with God. This week, I am digging deep, and I am taking a break from all that is around, trying to steal my precious time with Him. I have very carefully and thoughtfully written up blog posts for every day this week- and they should show up every morning this week. But they will not be freshly written posts, as I need to step away from the computer for a few days. I need to stop letting everything else compete for my time. I need to spend time with God and with my Family, because I want to bear fruit in abundance.