“And out of the ground the LORD God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” Genesis 2:9.
Trees symbolize many things in the Bible. For example, the “tree of life” symbolizes Jesus Christ as the giver of eternal life, the cross on which Jesus died was a tree called a tree of Curses where Jesus was made a curse for sinners. Galatians 3:13
Just like a tree bears fruit, gives protection, and serves other useful purposes the Christian is called to be a fruitful tree to his world.
He must produce good fruits and not be barren in good works. Paul’s letter to the Galatians and words of Jesus from the gospels of St. Luke and St. John touched on trees bearing fruit.
Fruits of course represent the works and the character of a Christian, but we know of course that not all fruits are edible and not all trees bear fruits.
Reflecting on our lives as Christians we must therefore ask ourselves about the type of fruits we are bearing for God. Are we producing good fruits for the kingdom of God? Are we barren or even producing poisonous fruits?
Now before a Christian can produce good fruits Jesus Christ must be the source of his life.
Testifying to this effect Jesus said:
“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing”. John 15:5.
Jesus was clear on how to produce useful fruits in our Christian lives saying “as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me”. John 15:4.
What is your source of power as a Christian? Christ or the world? Jesus or Satan?
The reason many continue to struggle to have good fruits is because they do not allow Jesus daily to nurture their lives and hence are daily preoccupied with all sorts of unpleasant works of the flesh.
Going to church alone doesn’t equate to having Jesus as the source of our Christian living: we have individual and personal responsibilities to Jesus which in turn reflect the type of fruits we are bearing.
Surrendering our lives to Jesus and asking the Holy Spirit to help us to bear useful fruits for God must be the sole goal of every Christian on daily basis to avoid becoming unfruitful.
What are the fruits that are distasteful to God?
Apostle Paul’s laundry list of such things is not exhaustive but includes sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these.” Galatians 5:19-20.
We must ask the Holy Spirit to continually reveal and destroy every unfruitful work of darkness in our lives.
After listing these vile things he added a severe warning: “ I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.” Galatians 5:21.
In other words, such trees would be cut down and thrown into the fire. Matthew 7:19.
Now as Christians, we are called to blossom like a well-watered tree, bearing edible fruits or stand the risk of being cut down.
When we are sufficiently connected to Jesus we will automatically bear the good fruits of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Galatians 5:22-23.
To be a good tree and to bear useful fruits for God we must never be wary of asking ourselves these fundamental questions on a daily basis: am I sufficiently connected to Jesus? Am I concerned about the things of His Kingdom?
Have I examined the nature of the fruits I am bearing? Are they edible or poisonous? If I find my fruits distasteful what am I doing to make amends and to please God?
Reading
Galatians 5: 13-26
