“By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, so you will be my disciples.”
According to our text we have been saved to bear fruit for the Lord. In fact, we have been empowered by the Holy Spirit to bear fruit for the Lord. I think that we all need to pause at times and meditate on whether or not the way we are living our lives is bearing fruit for the Lord. What I want to do in this article is to point out some of the ways that we can bear fruit in our lives. The fruit of new Christians The last command that Jesus gave to His disciples was that they witness to the world, beginning where they were and reaching around the world. (Acts 1:8) He promised that they would be powered by the Holy Spirit for this task. Every Christian is called to be a witness for Jesus Christ. Witnessing is not a gift of the Holy Spirit; it is a compulsion of the Holy Spirit. In other words, we can’t opt out of witnessing because we say that it’s not our gift, because it is our empowerment from the Spirit. I have heard this many times, so it is not original with me, but it is said that “the fruit of a Christian is another Christian.” We need to show by the way we live, that Jesus is our Savior, and we need to be able to tell others what He has done in our lives. There are different ways that we can witness to people, and we need to make sure that we are doing it. If you have a difficult time with it, join the club. Get you an experienced partner and go out and tell others about Jesus. Our task is to tell about Jesus, the fruit will be brought about by the Holy Spirit, but we will have made it possible. The fruit of blessed lives What we wrote above was about witnessing, this point is about ministry. People who know us should be blessed because they do. As I have followed Jesus, I have become aware of the need for ministry. He has made me more sensitive to the needs and feelings of other people. He has taught me to be more of a giver of myself and my time. This might seem like a burden sometimes, but if we are going to bear the fruit of blessed lives, we will have to make time for other people. We can bear this fruit by making sure that we show kindness to other people, even when they make it difficult to be kind. We can bear this fruit by praying with, and for, other people when they need it. I think that we can assume a person needs prayer by the personal burdens that they share with us. Don’t be afraid to say “Let’s pray about it.” The fruit of personal growth Personal growth in Christ affects our witness and ministry to people. What I mean by this is that as we grow in Christ our influence on other people will grow as well. One thing that people look for in those of us who claim to be Christians is the difference that Christ has made in our lives. We grow in Christ by constant prayer, constant Bible reading and constant fellowship with fellow Christians. The closer we grow to Christ, the more we grow in love. People can sense the love of Christ in us. We can’t fake Christian love, we can only really and truly live it from our hearts. When Christian love is genuine, it will influence people not just to love us, but to want to have that love in their own hearts. A great part of our Christian witness and ministry is having a loving and positive attitude. We will all have these graces in various degrees, but it is important that we cultivate them in our lives. I have not written this to make you feel guilty about your life. All of us have to deal with all three of these “fruits” in our lives. The main thing is to be aware that bearing fruit is important. Believe it!!! Bro. Joe
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AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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