Bearing Spiritual Fruit

Growing up as a child, I was fortunate to go to my grandparents’ farm in Wisconsin. Every spring my grandma would plant a garden. I learned how she would prepare the soil by tilling it and breaking up the hard ground so that it could receive the seed to produce a vegetable or fruit. She told me how important it is to treat the soil properly as it would affect how the seed grows. Since the soil is ready, the planting can now begin.

When planting the seeds, she would gather two stakes and put one at the beginning of the row and the other at the end. She would then tie a string onto them as a guide to make sure the rows were straight when planting. “This is important,” she said, because the seeds would not be able to cross germinate and contaminate the original seed. It reminded me of the verse, “Let your eyes look forward; fix your gaze straight ahead. Carefully consider the path of your feet, and all your ways will be established. Don’t turn to the right or left; keep your feet away from evil,” (Prov. 4:25-27).

Once the seeds were planted and covered with topsoil, the final step came: the watering. The water is needed to get the seed’s outer shell opened so it can start to germinate and take root in the soil to produce the harvest. With the sun, water, and pulling of the weeds, soon a crop was ready.

I wanted to paint a picture in your mind because this is how we are to plant seeds in our spiritual walk with the Lord. We are to prepare the soil. We are the earth. “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being,” (Gen. 2:7). So to get a spiritual understanding, we want to look at scripture with a deeper gaze. Jesus was a Jew and spoke Hebrew and in Hebrew, every word has character and function.

“Now the parable is this; The seed is the word of God” (Luke 8:11).

“And with many such parables, He spoke the word to them as they were able to hear it. But without a parable, He did not speak to them. And when they were alone, He explained all things to His disciples,” (Mark 4:33-34).

”I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings of old,” (Psalm 78:2). 

In Fausset’s Bible Dictionary, the word parable is the Hebrew word mashal and the Greek word parabole. A parable is defined as placing side by side or comparing earthly truths, expressed, with heavenly truths to be understood.

Also in Fausset’s Bible Dictionary, it says:

“The parables, earthly in form heavenly in spirit, answer to the parabolic character of His own manifestation. Jesus’ purpose in using parables is judicial, as well as didactic, to discriminate between the careless and the sincere.”

The early church emphasized the importance of the parables in scripture. They were intended to shadow forth the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, and they also have a double purpose that is attributed to Christ himself. Also, they are necessary to convey the mysteries of the kingdom.

In the seed is the DNA, the genes, and character of what that plant or fruit will be. If the seed is the Word of God, what are His characteristics?

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God,” (John 1:1-2). Everything was created from Him, and all things were already established before He even began speaking and unveiling physical matters.

Let’s take a look at these fruits that the Lord wants us to produce. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control,” (Gal.5:22-23). Two more, “for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth,” (Eph. 5:9). One more, ”Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name,” (Heb.13:15).

Before we can bear fruit, we must become a tree. “He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper, ”(Ps. 1:3).

We are to become the tree of life where we carry the right understanding, a love for God, and His revelation. The revelation of truth will produce fruit that brings about a reversal of wrong understanding. The love of God can’t exist without a revelation of His Word.

In summary, we are the earth (good ground) that the Lord wants to plant His seed (Word) into us, which is the revelation (secrets and mysteries) of Jesus. When we have the right understanding and are illuminated by the light of Jesus, we grow and bear fruit worthy of repentance, which is turning away and following the correct teachings.

As a tree continually bears fruit, so are God’s children called to bring forth and multiply the fruit of the Spirit within us. But know this: the fruit must be tested. If you’re a life-giving tree who bears the good fruit, you are the tree of life back in the garden. But those who bear bad fruit are cut down and thrown into the fire. “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves,” (Matt 7:15).

“You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits, you will know them, ” (Matt. 7:16-20). 

Let us make sure our fruits are of God.

References:
1. All scripture references from NKJV Bible versions

Keywords
Bearing Spiritual Fruit
Fruit definitions
Parable
Parable definition
Seed
Seed meaning
Trees
Meaning of Trees

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