Producing Fruit

“But blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence. They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit.”
Jeremiah 17:7-8 NLT

If you have been reading this blog for the past three weeks then you will remember that we have gone from starting a relationship with Christ to becoming rooted, to putting down roots so we can grow and mature in Christ. We took all of these thoughts from our theme verse in Jeremiah. Today I would like to focus on the last sentence. “Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit.” First of all, I would like us to note that leaves staying green and producing fruit are a sign of plant health. Plant health only happens in a plant that is properly fed and watered. A plant producing fruit is not a sign of a plant at ease, but of plant health (plants often bear more fruit when they are just a little stressed). Now, let’s think about this in relation to our life in Christ. A person who is rooted, growing, and maturing in their relationship with Christ will produce fruit. Jesus told us in the gospels that we are known by the type of fruit we bear, and we are either producing good fruit or bad fruit. There isn’t any fruit in between. Paul tells us in Galatians that by the power of the Holy Spirit living in us we should be producing the fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control) and the people we are living life with should see this fruit in us. The result of the fruit of the Spirit in us should be us becoming more Christlike drawing lost people into a relationship with Christ.
Christ-follower, what kind of fruit are you producing, fruit of the Spirit or fruit of self?

-Pastor Tim