Anchoring on fruitfulness


Fruitfulness is God's desire. John 15:1-8 describes how the Father cuts off every branch that bears no fruit, and for those branches which do bear fruit, he prunes them, so that they become even more fruitful. Verse 8 explains that "This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.".

So what fruit are we talking about? Well, Galatians 5:22-23 says "the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control." What else? Certainly in some cases, it is tangible, such as when he blessed Abraham with great material success (Gen 13:2). And it can also mean fruitfulness in family, in which I would include spiritual families (Gen 17:5b).

In this regard, I was struck this morning when we were praying for Singapore and the nations, that while we make this prayer, somebody must also be doing the actual work on the ground. Both prayer and action are important. And while 10,000 of us are praying, some of us have got to be on the ground too.

Taking action (and by this, I mean both prayer and work) is essential to produce fruit. Unfortunately, we are often too comfortable with talking about what we should be doing, rather than actually doing it. In our churches and cell groups and prayer groups, let's resolve to be fruitful. It's the only evidence that we are actually doing more than masak-masak with religion.

One final thought. Putting skin in the game is one way of staying in the game. What I mean is, if you invest nothing, it's easy to walk away from the table. For the man who puts minimal energy into his marriage and his children, it's easy to divorce and walk away. But that same man puts in his heart and soul into work, and can't walk away.

So for a man who puts no serious effort to his cell group or church, it's easy to walk away - either church hop or just stop turning up. But the man who decides to pour out his energy into the ministry and is waiting for the harvest, he's just not going to walk away so easily. In a sense, ministry and fruitfulness can act as an anchor for our faith.

Everyone wants to be fruitful. But let's get real and decide to move beyond wanting it, to getting it!

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