FRUITFUL AND FLOURISHING

“Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit;
so shall ye be my disciples”
(John 15:8).

The Bible is full of allegories and beautiful pictures of how God wants us to live. God paints one of these pictures in Psalm 128:3 (CSB) describing a blessed family life: “Your wife will be a like a fruitful vine within your house, your children, like young olive trees around your table.”

Dear mother, you are not literally a vine, but the Bible says you are LIKE a vine. Your children are not literally olive plants, but they are LIKE olive plants. God teaches us from the way He describes us.

Where does He want you to be fruitful? In the heart of your home.

How does a vine become fruitful? It must be pruned and watered. Sometimes we are not fruitful in our homes because we resist the pruning. And we don’t take time to be watered in His presence and in His Word.

Vinedressers who want a fruitful harvest are RUTHLESS when pruning their vines. They cut back the branches until they look as though there is nothing left on the vine. They look quite ugly. But from this cutting back comes a glorious harvest.

Vines that are left to grow without pruning may look fine but when you get up close you see very little fruit. I think of Hosea 10:1 where it says: “Israel is an empty vine; he bringeth forth fruit unto himself.” Israel looked good but instead of bringing forth fruit for God, he brought forth fruit for himself!

Fruit for yourself but empty for God. That’s sad, isn’t it?

You can have everything looking good and yet still not produce fruit. I love to grow a vegetable garden every year and love picking my vegetables fresh each day.  One year I grew these amazing pepper plants. They looked luxuriant but they produced no fruit. There must have been something wrong with my soil! It shows that you can look good and still not be producing fruit.

But it is the fruit that God wants. When talking about the Vinedresser and the vine in John 15 Jesus says that He wants more than fruit from us. He wants “more fruit” (John 15:2). But even that is not enough. Two times Jesus says that he wants “much fruit” (John 15:5, 8).

Sometimes we must take the “bull by the horns” and cut back branches ourselves. Stop running here, there, and everywhere. Stop getting involved in too many things outside the home. The Shulamite woman in Song of Songs 1:6 said: “They made me the keeper of the vineyards: but mine own vineyard have I not kept.” What a sad confession.

“But how can I be fruitful stuck here in my home?” you cry out. Dear mother, to embrace the children God wants to give you is an eternal work. You are bringing into the world eternal souls who will live forever. You give to a child the privilege of enjoying the glory of eternity forever. How amazing.

As you pour your life into building your home, making it a holy home for God in this sinful and deceived world, you are a light shining on a hill for all to see. As you make your marriage and family life strong, you help to make this nation strong. As you take up your charge to get God’s Word richly into the hearts and mouths of your children to prepare them for life, you will not only be salt in this world, but you will be sending out powerful, salty, God-fearing, truth-speaking, devil-defeating young people into this world to take dominion for God. That’s incredible fruit for God’s kingdom.

Keep your life trimmed and pruned so you can bring forth fruit for eternal life.

PRAYER:

“Dear Father, You are the great Vinedresser. Help me to yield to your pruning so I can bring forth much fruit for your kingdom. Show me the things that I am doing that are just leaves and not bearing fruit. These are the things that are a waste of time. Amen.”

AFFIRMATION:

I want to bring forth much fruit for God’s kingdom.