Bearing Fruit

I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. (John 15:5)

The Holy Bible: ESV. Wheaton, IL: Standard Bible Society, 2001.

Jesus is spending His last hours with His disciples, and He shares with them the Father's desire and the source from which the desire will be accomplished. The Father desires FRUIT, and the Son is the source of life from which this fruit develops. We are the abiding, cleansed, pruned branches that declare the Glory of the Father by bearing fruit that blesses others.

As I was thinking on this passage, I thought about the early process of fruit-bearing: flowers. Now, some of you know how much I like flowers. I get amazed at their beauty and uniqueness. I get excited at their splash of colors against the backdrop of the fauna. I become enchanted with their fragrances ... Flowers seem to simply excite the emotions through the senses, but they must die if fruit is to be born. I don't always get so emotionally moved at the sight of a fruit-filled tree; I prefer the appearance of the flowers. But fruit will do so much more than flowers are capable of - fruit will provide me sustenance.

That got me thinking: suppose we as believers stayed only in the flower stage, refusing to be agitated by bees and to decay in our beauty. Suppose we only wanted our life to appeal to the senses rather than become something of sustenance. Suppose we, in our desire, crave the attention we get at the flower stage and just stay there. What would be the results?

I don't want my branches to only have flowers; I want them to have fruit. So I surrender to the hand of the Father to clean, pull, tie up, and prune me. I stay connected to the source of Jesus so I don't wither on my own. I yield to the delight of God that I might yield a harvest of fruit for the benefit of others. Will you?