Apart from faith that is rooted in Jesus, we are each like a spiritually dead tree that produces yucky fruit.
A tree can tell you a lot about the Christian life.
A healthy fruit tree will grow and bear fruit. But not just any fruit. A hale and hearty tree will bear fruit that you can pick and enjoy eating. A diseased tree, on the other hand, is quite different. It’s likely that it won’t grow any fruit. If it does bear fruit, it will taste disgusting. Unlike a healthy tree, a diseased tree can never grow good fruit.
Just as the fruit we harvest grows based on what the tree is, the fruit we produce in our lives grows based on who we are. Apart from faith that is rooted in Jesus, we are each like a spiritually dead tree that produces yucky fruit, what we call sin (see Matthew 7:15–20).
If you are in Christ, then you are a new creation, and over time you will produce good fruit, such as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Gal. 5:16–24). These are known as the “fruit of the Spirit.” How do we get them?
We abide in Christ.
Oftentimes Christians go to Jesus for forgiveness of sin so they can go to heaven, but they leave the gospel behind when it comes to living daily life. Yet Jesus says we must abide in him (John 15:4). What does that mean? It means that we stay put! That we are fed by him daily and that we flourish as we remain “in Christ.”
Read
- Our good works are not produced by our own efforts apart from Jesus. They are produced by God’s work in you—by abiding. Do you seek God’s help in living for him, are you abiding in him, or do you try to do it on your own?
Prayer
Thank God that in Christ you are a new creation. Ask for his graceful empowerment to live for and enjoy him forever.
This devotion is excerpted from the Who Do You Think You Are? Study Guides with Daily Devotions resource.
