Huge and abundant
December 3, 2009 (Thursday)
Last Sunday my dear friend Steve presented a devotional thought to the Sunday School members, by displaying a normal-sized lemon and a huge soccer-ball-size lemon. (I’ve displayed a similar lemon’s picture downloaded from the internet — don’t know who the lady is). The two lemons displayed by Steve were both real, but one surpassed the other in size. I don’t know how the large lemon attained its giant size, but I saw it and I know it was there. A couple of days later my dear friend Dale showed me his grapefruit tree which has produced almost 300 grapefruit (The picture is not his tree, but you get the idea). Unbelievable that one tree could produce so many.
When I thought of those pieces of fruit, I thought of what Jesus said: “”My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples” (John 15:8 NASB). Jesus was not talking about lemons or grapefruit, however. He was referring to the fruit of Christian service. Jesus envisioned those disciples going to others with the precious gospel, sowing that precious seed, and seeing it produce love and service to God in the lives of the hearers.
The Apostle Paul observed the acts of the sinful nature of man, and named them: “sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like” (Galatians 5:19-21 NIV). Then he contrasted those deeds with the fruit of the Spirit: “Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” (Galatians 5:22-23 NIV). This is the fruitfulness the Lord produces in us, his followers.
Christ makes the difference. “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit” (Galatians 5:24-25) NIV). Our faith is invisible until it is seen in what we do, revealing how we think and feel about life, about God, and about ourselves and others. God is glorified in this type of fruitfulness, too.
Our service to God and our living the Christian lifestyle are the kinds of fruit that glorify God and bring joy to our Savior.
The chorus of the hymn, “Living for Jesus,” encourages us to dedicate ourselves to Christ so that he may consecrate us to the Father: “O Jesus, Lord and Savior, I give myself to Thee, for Thou, in Thy atonement, didst give Thyself for me; I own no other Master, my heart shall be Thy throne; My life I give, henceforth to live, O Christ, for Thee alone.”