(John;15;1-17)
The word of God more often than not uses trees to plainly explain spiritual truth to us. Trees are naturally impressed in our natural mind which is closely related to our souls because when God created man, He put him in the garden of Eden full of trees, consequently, man does not struggle to relate to trees. Therefore Jesus chooses to use the vine to illustrate His relation to us in a natural way so as to leave a lasting impression in our hearts. He begins by making it very clear in a bold statement that He is the true vine. This opens our minds to another side of the statement that there is a false vine for Him to be the true vine. For now, we will not focus on the false vine our interest now is in the true vine. As the true vine, He qualifies us to be true branches as long as we are connected to Him. The only sign that we are connected to Him is our fruitfulness. This connection is facilitated by our love for Him. If we love Him we will obey what He commands. The only way to express our love for Him is to obey Him. Our obedience to Him will cultivate the right relationship with Him and it is this relationship that welds us to Him. Simply stated, this relationship grafts us to Him and consequently, we become part of Him in form of branches. It is the branches that bear the fruit. It is Him who produces the fruit while we remain united to Him we only bear the fruit! It does not take your effort. It takes His effort. We only bear the fruit after He has produced it. The production of fruit through us by Him is made possible by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. Paul the apostle speaking to the church in Galatia gives a list of the fruit of the spirit. He singularizes the fruit and gives a list of the fruit of the Holy Spirit, it is amazing. Even Jesus singularizes fruit-bearing and says remaining in Him will make us bear fruit. This means the fruit is one. For example, an orange tree bears oranges. This means every orange in an orange tree is an orange! It is not oranges! Each fruit we bear is a fruit of the Holy Spirit, it is not fruits of the Holy Spirit because Holy Spirit is one. He bears one fruit. The fruit we bear when we remain connected to Jesus will be a manifestation of the very life and nature of Jesus himself. Since Jesus is one, it will be one fruit of the person and nature of Jesus revealed in us and through us. Jesus does not change. He is the same yesterday today and for evermore, so our fruit will remain. It will weather the storm of any spiritual climate. It will affect more people and become more fruit which will, in turn, affect many people and become much fruit! Fruitful trees attract people, so as people are attracted to you, show them more of Jesus in you and let them enjoy more and more fruit. Have a fruitful life in Jesus' Name.
