After the canopy of trees comes the gardener. He tends to the ones that are His. He prunes, plants, waters, and turns them to face the sun. Yes, He is a Master craftsman! The gardener knows what is needed at just the right time. He knows when you should be bearing fruit and when you shouldn’t. He is the Spirit of Jesus and He does the ground work. That way when the Son comes looking for fruit He need not worry if its His or not.
In our previous letter, we spoke of the trees aligning the river of God and their placement along the way. Today is a continuation of this story with a little warning to boot. In the scriptures we find several references where Jesus Himself talked of the trees, vines, fruit, groundskeeper, pruning, and bareness, and this conversation will stick to that illustration.
Let’s start off with John the Baptist giving warning to the “brood of vipers” and others listening in Matthew 3. “Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire (v. 10).” He continued to speak of the One who was to come after him and so on. John knew the importance of bearing the proper fruit of repentance (v. 8).
Its this act that is our first fruit. It’s a sign to the gardener that we have changed from the old man and way. Yes, it is our first offering unto the Lord for His goodness in saving us! But how is it accomplished? In Matthew 6: 33 we find another clue to this, “but seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness…” The turning away from the old habits and introducing a new way, seeking God. When you do this, you will naturally produce your fruit. It’ll be there in season and out of season as Paul relayed to Timothy (II Timothy 4:2).
Why is this of importance? In this act of devotion, we begin to grow into the vine. Our fibers blend and his life force begins to heal the grafting. Our fruit will be known to Him. He will also take note of those who don’t produce the good fruit. “For every good tree shall produce good fruit, and a bad tree will bear bad fruit… So by their fruits they will be known (Matthew 7: 17, 20).”
The importance of this can not be dismissed. We can be producers of good or bad. We can also be lukewarm and not produce any. But caution comes to those trees too. In Matthew 21 we find Jesus being hungry and walking up to a fig tree that did not happen to have fruit. He cursed it and it responded immediately by drying up (v. 19). Later on in Revelation we find out that He doesn’t like lukewarm-ness (3: 16). These traits are contradictory to who He is and what He has done. His single act of Love measured out in time and space has met us where we are.
So today, I challenge you to measure up your fruit. Take time to draw close to God and He will draw close to you (James 4: 8). Time is short but it has not run out. Look at the story of another fig tree found in Luke 13: 7-9, “these three years I’ve come looking for fruit but have found none. Chop it down! But the grounds man said, ‘leave it to me one more year and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it. If it produces fruit next year then fine. But if not, then chop it down.’”
Godspeed, The Journeyman
Ps. It’s a different story for me today… but one that has been sitting inside for a while. I hope it can be an encouragement to you in your journey today!
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