Where's the fruit?

It's fruit season around the farm and although many of the trees aren't cared for like they should be, most are producing some fruit. The peaches had a bumper crop year last year, so it was likely they'd be down this year, which they were. The pears always seem to be big producers seemingly no matter what the care. One plum tree and one peach tree got hit by bores, so I'm wondering if they'll make it, maybe some DDT will help. The grapes I think are very susceptible to production being directly related to the care. Certainly, there's years where they produce despite of me, but I'm confident that they'd do much better with my attention and skill. This year, we'll have some grapes to pop but we won't be hitting any records.

All this to say, as we taught the concept of a vineyard in the Bible to the 1st graders at church today, how my mind wandered to the analogy of fruit in our lives. Galatians 5:22-23 talks of the fruits of the Holy Spirit in our lives. How much more so will they multiply if we are faithful to God's Word, allowing it to prune out the bad growth and prepare our hearts for more fruit. Much like me around the farm, being lazy and eliminating these steps from our lives hinders the fruit production, even though some grows in spite of us. Certainly modern Christianity's focus on knowing and believing but not necessarily completely following contribute to this effect; can't we just hire someone else to do the work? As John MacArthur talks about in his book The Gospel According to Jesus, "...They have been told that the only criterion for salvation is knowing and believing some basic facts about Christ. They hear from the beginning that obedience is optional. It follows logically, then, that someone's one-time profession of faith is more valid than the evidence of that person's ongoing lifestyle in determining whether to embrace him or her as a true believer. The character of the visible church reveals the detestable consequence of this theology."

So, it's the beginning of the week; I know it's not the time of the year to be pruning; but the fruits of the Spirit aren't a summer fruit. Hopefully, the production is year round.