fruit.

Matthew Loveland
Sep 8, 2018 · 4 min read

In John 15, Jesus talks about vines and branches. Branches that bear no fruit are removed and those that bear fruit are pruned. It seems that the fruit is kind of important. Many times, we use the fruit to mean how well someone acts in public. Do you drink alcohol? Do you have tattoos? Do you smoke cigarettes? Do you talk like a sailor sometimes? Churches have used these types of things against people to guilt them into being molded into their specific type of “christian”. “Real Christians” don’t smoke or have tattoos or drink alcohol.

That seems a little (or a lot really) petty if you ask me. I don’t think Jesus holds it against us if we have tattoos, say a bad word sometimes, or even drink alcohol or smoke cigarettes. (Even though smoking is not even close to benefitting your body, a lot of alcohol kills your liver…but hey, I drink Monster energy drinks so who am I to judge?)

I use this fruit example on purpose. Jesus uses this example of fruit to represent what happens when you stay close to Him. He says to keep his commandments and we will abide in his love. Abide is defined as accepting or acting in accordance with (a rule, decision, or recommendation). I think that Jesus doesn’t want to lay the hammer down and make this a “rule”. I think Jesus is so grace-filled that there is always room for us to improve. Based on that knowledge, I’d say Jesus would recommend us (not making “rules”) to follow His way because His way is best. Not only for us as individuals, but for those who would be the recipient of our fruit.


The Apostle Paul came into prominence several years after Jesus walked the Earth but was certainly Spirit filled and understood what Jesus was about. What is commonly thought to be the first of Paul’s writings is Galatians. Paul was proclaiming the Good News of Jesus to the Gentiles, or non-Jews (mostly Greeks/Romans at this point). Galatia was a church located in modern day Turkey. In Chapter 5, Paul tells this church that they should live by the Spirit, not by their evil desires (He uses flesh to describe this). Living by the Spirit yields fruit. Fruit is a sign of life and growth. Fruit is the result of “abiding” in Jesus, which is a Spirit led life. These fruits are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.


Many of us have been taught to put our faith in Jesus so that our sins are forgiven. While I believe this to be true, I think it is only part of the story. Jesus isn’t giving us a ‘get out of hell free” card but is inviting us into a full life (John 10). I believe that when we put our faith in Jesus, it should mean that we should trust the way he is asking us to live. There is a point where we have to decide whether we trust Jesus or not. In Everything Always, Bob Goff says something that totally punched me in the gut.

It is easier to agree with Jesus than to do what He says.

Ouch. That hits pretty close to home.

Yes, in some way we can never truly know, Jesus’ death and resurrection somehow absolves the sins of the world. But He also invites us into the life that only he can give. It requires us to obey his command to love one another, as he has loved us. It requires us to love our enemies. It requires us to take care of the widowed and orphan and the poor.

This is abiding. This is what produces fruit. Want to know who is truly following Jesus? Look at the fruit. Not just their words about what they say they believe. True faith requires action. Knowing stuff about God doesn’t mean squat if it isn’t leading us to action. James 1:22–25 talks about hearing and doing. So the message that touched our hearts that led us to put our faith in Christ needs to be acted upon. It needs to bear fruit. Knowledge without action is just knowledge. Knowledge about Jesus is great, but without doing what He asked us to do it’s useless. We end up being like the religious leaders of Jesus’ day who he called whitewashed tombs. They pretend to be in good standing with God by saying the right things, but inside they were spiritually dead.

I want to end with this. When we are doing what Jesus asked of us, we find joy.

I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete. — John 15:11

If we are really producing fruit, we will find this joy. This isn’t to say that if you aren’t joyful all the time that you aren’t doing a good enough job. But when we are abiding in Jesus, it connects us to the joy that only Jesus brings us. When I wrote that part about the whitewashed tombs I was quick to justify myself, saying that I am not like that. To be honest, I believe I am more susceptible to that than I want to believe.

I know the things I should be “believe” but how often am I actually putting that into action? How often am I acting on what Jesus is asking me to do?

My prayer and maybe it’s your prayer too:

Jesus, I feel like I am in a pruning process and it hurts. I want to allow you to continue this process, this process of cutting off the things that aren’t bearing fruit. I want the joy that comes from the results of doing what You ask of me. Help me to reach the potential you see in me. Help me to be more disciplined. Help me to continue learning about and seeking you, that it would lead me to the action of putting your words into practice. Thank you for being patient and loving to me and allowing me to grow along the way. Help there to be less of me and more of you. May I reflect your light and love to those around me.

Written by

Lover of Jesus, Tiffany, Levi and Sadie. Exploring faith based ideas and learning to find myself one story at a time. || Philly, USA

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