A couple years ago, Connie planted maybe six special tomato plants in our small garden. We enjoy them so she chose the best plants, cared for them but at the end of the year, we had hardly a paltry amount of tomatoes. For some strange reason, most of us plant trees, veggies, even do hard work always expecting there to be some form of ‘fruit of our labor’. And when that doesn’t happen we fuss and fume. In Mark 11:12-14 even Jesus was agitated because when he was hungry and went to a fig tree that didn’t have any fig, he essentially cursed the tree saying no one would ever eat fruit from that tree. Matthew references this incident and records later when He and the disciples saw the same tree, it had withered away. Fruitlessness is an irritation to all of us, including Jesus! But while that less than fruitful year for us was annoying, it didn’t stop us from trying again the next year.
That wasn’t just an incident in Jesus’ life. Because He knew how His heavenly Father felt about fruitfulness, He used various illustrations to draw attention to the importance of producing whatever the plant is designed to produce. One was in Luke 13:6-9 when he talked about a man planting a fig tree in his vineyard and there was no fruit on it at the end of the season. The same thing happened the next year and the third. The man decided to dig it up and throw it away. Wow! He was serious about the need to be fruitful.
Like so many others, I poured my life into trying to disciple a young lady only to see her choose to join a cult. I know of parents who have poured into their children only to see them choose to live contrary to God’s laws. It is heartbreaking when you feel like years of your prayers and training produced no fruit. None of us like to see a person God has shaped for some “good work” (Eph. 2:10) waste what was given them on self-destruction and hurting others. But it is exhilarating when you see that child or person you worked with, later reverse their course of life around.
One of the motivators in my life has been the fact God hand-crafted me for some good work and I intend to do my best to be faithful and fruitful to that assignment. On one hand I have come to so enjoy my relationship with Christ that I only want to spend more time with Him and do whatever He wants. On the other and, I also know the truth is that Jesus Himself said, John 15:6 (ESV) If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. While that is not motivating me to seek to know and serve God as I do, yet there remains a healthy fear in my heart of my God. He is serious about fruitfulness so I will be serious about it as well. How about you?
As you look back as a boatman looks back at the wake of his boat, do you have confidence that your seeking intimacy with God and the subsequent fruitfulness is as God expects out of the craftsmanship He invested in you? Remember, God can ONLY be fruitful and expects His passion for fruitfulness to be manifest in those close to Him. John 15:8 (ESV) By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.