Favorite Fruit

           My favorite fruit seems to always be changing. In the fall it’s apples. When I have a high quality orange, it’s oranges. And when the pineapple or the peach is just right, it seems impossible that anything could be better. The variety of fruits in this world is really wonderful. God has greatly blessed us with them, and I am thankful to live in a time when they are so available – even year round. The quality of the fruit depends on the quality of the tree, doesn’t it? Trees that are maintained and well-cared for will produce more… and better… fruit. Trees left to go wild produce fruit that is marred and marked, misshapen, and immature.

            God likes fruit, too. Of course He is glorified by every apple and pear. But Jesus taught us that God is looking for fruit in us, and that it brings Him glory when we are fruitful. Fruitfulness is one of the evidences of the presence of genuine faith in our lives. In other words, our lives will produce what we believe in. It has been said that “you are what you believe.” Just like an apple tree produces apples (and not something else), so true faith produces the fruit of good works and good speech. Apples don’t “try hard” to grow. They grow naturally from the connection they have to the branch of a healthy tree. Faith, too, is not something that comes from “trying hard”. Faith comes from being connected in a healthy way to Christ. Whenever we are connected this way, God will produce in us the fruit He desires.

            Genuine faith is always accompanied by appropriate actions (James 2:14-26) and words (James 3:1-12). These actions and words are the natural fruit of a healthy relationship with Jesus, where He is recognized as Lord and served and obeyed out of love. Jesus, when speaking about false prophets and genuine followers, said that people can be known by the fruit that is born in their lives. Just as apples “naturally” come from the apple tree, good works and good speech come from a life in which Jesus is Lord. So, when people see me “in action” and they hear my speech (both content and tone), they will think of Jesus if I am living by faith. If I am not living by faith, but rather am trusting in myself, the fruit will be different and people will see that also. If I am not living by faith in Christ, but am serving idols of some kind, the fruit will be a completely different product. The fruit indicates the tree. Christian fruit is the works we do because of Christ in us and the overflowing of grace to us by the Holy Spirit. We are connected to Christ by faith. May that be evident in all that flows forth from us! AMEN.

Matthew 7:15-23 (NIV) ¹⁵  "Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. ¹⁶  By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? ¹⁷  Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. ¹⁸  A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. ¹⁹  Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. ²⁰  Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them. ²¹  "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. ²²  Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' ²³  Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'

John 15:1-8 (NIV) ¹  "I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. ²  He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. ³  You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. ⁴  Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. ⁵  "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. ⁶  If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. ⁷  If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. ⁸  This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

Galatians 5:19-25 (NIV) ¹⁹  The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; ²⁰  idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions ²¹  and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. ²²  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³  gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. ²⁴  Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. ²⁵  Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.

PRAYER: “Father, I know I don’t have to manufacture fruit. In fact, when I try to, it doesn’t come out very well. My good works – apart from what Christ is producing in me by the Holy Spirit – are shabby at best and sinful at worst, because they don’t come from faith. Lord, let my faith be strong and may the relationship You have made possible through Christ’s blood generate works of love and grace that can only be possible because of Christ in me. Let my words and my works be like Christ’s.  In Jesus’ name I pray, AMEN.”

Beautiful But Dangerous

           On a walk yesterday I saw my first lupin of the season beginning to bloom. These common roadside and field flowers are a little like lilacs in that their late spring bloom is bright, but relatively short. In reading a little bit about lupins, I learned that in some cases they have had culinary uses. The yellow legume seeds of lupins, commonly called lupin beans, were popular with the Romans, who spread the plant's cultivation throughout the Roman Empire. The name 'Lupin' derives from the Latin word lupinus (meaning "of or belonging to a wolf"). It was given this name because many found that the plant has a tendency to ravage the land on which it grows. The peas, which appear after the flowering period, were also said to be fit only for the consumption of wolves. Lupini dishes are most commonly found in Mediterranean countries, especially in Portugal, Egypt, and Italy, and also in Brazil. In Portugal and Spain they are popularly consumed with beer. In Lebanon, salty and chilled Lupini Beans are called "Termos" and are served pre-meal as part of a drink/appetizer. Lupins were also used by many Native American people in North America. Edible lupins are referred to as sweet lupins because they contain smaller amounts of toxic alkaloids than the bitter lupin varieties. Please note that I’m not writing about lupins to encourage anyone to eat them. In fact, just the opposite (unless you really know what you are doing). Lupins contain significant amounts of certain compounds that can be highly toxic and/or allergenic. Both sweet and bitter lupins in feed can cause livestock poisoning. Lupin poisoning is a nervous syndrome caused by alkaloids in bitter lupins. Poisonous lupin seeds annually cause the loss of many cattle and sheep on western American ranges.  

            Lupins are an example of something that looks harmless – even beautiful – but is dangerous if used (consumed) in the wrong way. We enjoy looking at them for a season, but should only go “so far” with them, right? It’s like the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil that God placed in the Garden of Eden, but forbade Adam and Eve to eat. It must have looked good and appealed to the eye. That’s what Genesis 3:6 tells us, anyway. What looked harmless had come with a warning from the Lord to them. But in their wisdom the lie of the serpent made more sense than the word of God. “It couldn’t hurt!” they thought.

            How many things in life do we look at… how many things are we attracted to… while at the same time listening to (usually an inner witness) the message, “It couldn’t hurt!”? We can be just as conflicted as Eve and Adam were. We know from the Word of God that something is “off limits”. It is not acceptable to Him. It is wrong in His sight. But it looks so good… even beautiful. It couldn’t really be all that bad! This temptation – just as it was for Adam and Eve – is a temptation to not believe God. To not trust God’s Word about anything is really the foundation of all sin. Acting, thinking, speaking… apart from faith (apart from God’s perspective and expectations in anything) will always lead us to sin. The Bible says that without faith it is impossible to please God. So faith means conforming our thoughts, words, and deeds to the Word of God. Sin comes about as a result of being attracted to something that “disagrees” with God’s Word. Then we are faced with a decision: “Do I believe God and trust in His word, or do I stray from that path and do what appeals to me?” God’s path is life. Any other path is death. The choice seems like it should be easy, but living by faith requires constant surrender to the Lord in a world that is constantly seeking to “conquer” us.

            But God gives us grace, and He gives faith to trust Him. In His love God raises us up to walk with Him. He has given us His Spirit, who helps us to walk by faith. He has given us His Word, and He has given us Christ’s Body – the Church, so that we might help one another. So let us help one another not to be fooled by the attractiveness of sin. Let us encourage one another to behold the beauty of the Lord and to see temptation for what it really is: a lie. And let us seek daily to live by faith and to walk closely with our God.

2 Corinthians 5:7 (KJV) ⁷  (For we walk by faith, not by sight:)

Hebrews 11:6 (NIV) ⁶  And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.

 PRAYER: “Father, take my hand and lead me, that I might live by faith… that I might know Your truth. And, knowing Your truth, that I will shape my thoughts, words, and deeds according to the reality of Your presence and will and not my own. When something that is not pleasing to You – yet is attractive to me – comes my way, help me to see Your beauty – a beauty by which all other things lose their attraction. May my desire be for You.  In Jesus’ name I pray, AMEN.”

 Jesus Christ is Lord!

Scott