THE ROOT BEARS THE FRUIT
The ROOT Bears the FRUIT
What kinds of fruit are you producing in your life? Are the fruits of the Spirit evident? Do you display love, joy, and peace? Are you patient, kind, and good to others? Are you faithful, gentle with others, and have self-control? These are the fruits of the Spirit (see Gal 5:22-23) and what you will produce when you spend time with Jesus and stay connected to Him on a daily basis (John 15).
John 15:5 says, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” Jesus is the author and finisher of your faith. You cannot bear good fruit without the root (Jesus). With Jesus, you can do ALL things (Phil 4:13). Without Jesus, you can do NO thing (John 15:5). You can’t bear good fruit without Jesus because the root bears the fruit.
It’s so important to stay connected to God through prayer, reading and studying His Word because apart from Jesus, we can do absolutely nothing. Nothing in our lives is going to work well unless Christ is at the center of it. Many of us get into “works of the flesh” and think that we can just “try harder”. Let me tell you something….trying harder doesn’t work. The only thing that trying harder will do is frustrate and wear you out! We can’t just try to focus on producing good fruit, we have to get to the root. I hear many people say that they need to love more or be more patient. You can’t just try to love harder or try to be more patient in your own strength because it will never work, apart from Him.
Matthew 7:7 says, “Every good tree bears good fruit but a bad root or tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit and a bad tree cannot produce good fruit.”
Is there a root in your life that is producing bad fruit? Have you taken up an offense and now have a root of bitterness? Have you been hurt deeply by someone and now have un-forgiveness in your heart? Is there a root of envy or jealousy? What about pride or fear? These bad roots will produce bad fruit in your life. Without even realizing it, your heart will become poisoned and then your thoughts, words, and actions will reflect what is in your heart. Luke 6:45 says, “For out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks.” Whatever is in your heart is going to come out in some way, shape, or form.
Matthew 12:33 says, “A tree is known by its fruit.” When we stay connected to Jesus each and every day by reading His Word and meditating on His Truth, He will prune those things in our lives that aren’t bearing fruit (sin, bad attitude, impatience, bitterness, resentment, anger, pride, lust, envy, control, manipulation, etc). John 15:2 says, “He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.” We can’t change on our own. No amount of will-power is going to change us. It’s only by the work of God through the power of the Holy Spirit that we are changed, little by little, from glory to glory (2 Corinth 3:18).
I want to encourage you to ask the Lord to search your heart and point out any bad roots in your life. Psalm 139:23-24 says, “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.” Don’t allow fear to keep you from a relationship with God or from inviting Him into every area of your life. God will convict us of the things we should change in our lives but He will never make us feel condemned. Romans 8:1 says, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” Allow God to search your heart and point out any offensive way so that you will not be deceived. We need to pull up the bad roots in our lives and REPLACE them with God’s Truth because it is the TRUTH and the truth alone, that will set us FREE (John 8:32).
Read God’s Word, not out of obligation but out of your love for Jesus. The more you fall in love with Jesus, the more you will want to obey Him and the more good fruit your will bear in your life! When you come to know and experience the LOVE OF GOD, you will be changed. When you finally receive God’s love, only then can you truly love others. You cannot give away something that you don’t already have yourself. If you don’t feel loved or love yourself, then you cannot possibly show love to anyone else. When you encounter the love of God, you will never be the same because His love changes us. I pray like Paul prayed in Ephesians 3 (vs 14-19) that you will grasp how high, how deep, and how wide God’s love is for you and that you will become rooted and grounded in His love.
Pray that God will give you a new heart for Him and put His Spirit within you and cause you to walk in His statutes (Ez 36:26-27). Stay connected to Jesus, depending more on the Holy Spirit and less on yourself. Ask Him to help you bear more good fruit in your life!
- Amber Cunningham
