bearing fruit

Unusable

Posted on by Betsy

I have a beef with the manufacturer of the moisturizer I use. When the container is still half full, the pump stops working. No matter how hard I pound, pump, tilt, and cajole, a good portion of the product remains in the heavy glass container, completely unusable. Eventually I am forced to break the neck of the pump and try to scrape the sides of the container until the lotion is gone. It is aggravating! I’m sure the reason the manufacturer doesn’t fix it is because folks give up and just buy more moisturizer. Not this girl! I’m too cheap.

We are surrounded every day by things that are unusable: electronic cords from long gone devices, expired food products we just can’t throw out, clothing that is too small, but we leave it in the closet anyway, last generation cell phones shoved in kitchen drawers … can you name some unusable things in your life right now?

Malachi gave a warning about people who were unusable. They were labeled “stubble,” referring to the wheat chaff that was the unusable part of grain that burned quickly in a fire. The arrogant and all the evil doers were stubble. The day was coming when they would be burned and leave nothing behind to take root again.

Malachi 4 (New Revised Standard Version)

See, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble; the day that comes shall burn them up, says the Lord of hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch.  2 But for you who revere my name the sun of righteousness shall rise, with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall.

In John 15, Jesus gives a similar warning about the dead wood that would burn in the fire after the healthy branches were pruned for growth. His standard was measured in what produced “good fruit.” Anything that was not productive, i.e. unusable, would be burned.

6 If you don’t remain in me, you will be like a branch that is thrown out and dries up. Those branches are gathered up, thrown into a fire, and burned.

Dead branches are of no use to God. Dead branches produce no fruit, can’t be used for anything useful, and actually hurt the living, producing branches. This Scripture makes it clear that the standard by which the vineyard keeper judges the viability of the branch is the branch’s ability to produce the fruit of love. When love is no longer the fruit you are producing, the keeper will throw you away and allow you to dry up. The same is true of the church. If we no longer produce the fruit of love, we will be thrown out.

8 My Father is glorified when you produce much fruit and in this way prove that you are my disciples.

And what fruit are we to be producing? Paul gives us a beautiful list in Galatians 5: 

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against things like this.

Are you “usable” for the kingdom of God? Do you revere God’s name in everything you do? Actions speak louder than words. Is love the fruit you bear? May the sun of righteousness rise up in your life and shine so brightly that everyone can see Jesus in you.


Shine On by Kathy Schumacher

Fruit-Bearers

Posted on by Betsy

I love berry season. As soon as I see the signs in the grocery store, my heart and my cart quickly get filled up will all things berry. Blueberries, strawberries, blackberries, raspberries … these colorful bits of God’s best work are lovely to behold. Berries are high in fiber, low in carbohydrates, and sweeter than sugar if allowed to ripen properly. The best berries are the ones you can pick from a farm. It is harder to get anything fresher or juicer. Sadly, for berries to be sold in grocery stores they have to be picked on the early side and endure packaging and transit. Still, any kind of berry is not just good to eat but good for you as well.

Paul’s letter to the church in Colossae made me think of how fruit on the vine ripens to perfection when properly tended. Notice in this passage how many times he talks about the message bearing fruit. God’s Good News through Jesus Christ can bear fruit in our lives if we tend it well.

Colossians 1 (Common English Bible)

3 We always give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you. 4 We’ve done this since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and your love for all God’s people. 5 You have this faith and love because of the hope reserved for you in heaven. You previously heard about this hope through the true message, the good news, 6 which has come to you. This message has been bearing fruit and growing among you since the day you heard and truly understood God’s grace, in the same way that it is bearing fruit and growing in the whole world. 7 You learned it from Epaphras, who is the fellow slave we love and Christ’s faithful minister for your sake. 8 He informed us of your love in the Spirit.

You can just feel Paul’s appreciation for this little church. Colossae was a small and somewhat unimportant city. Their trade in fabric dyes had fallen off and their prominence was diminishing. Although Paul never went to Colossae, as an apostle (meaning “one sent”) it was appropriate to send them a letter of instruction. You probably spotted his familiar triad of faith, hope, and love in the first few verses. There was a bit of heresy happening in the church as a result of mixed religions, with each one adding its own flavor to the practices of the church. Paul wrote to instruct them that it is only through deep knowledge of Jesus Christ and wisdom that comes from God that true spiritual understanding would be achieved by the community.

9 Because of this, since the day we heard about you, we haven’t stopped praying for you and asking for you to be filled with the knowledge of God’s will, with all wisdom and spiritual understanding. 10 We’re praying this so that you can live lives that are worthy of the Lord and pleasing to him in every way: by producing fruit in every good work and growing in the knowledge of God; 11 by being strengthened through his glorious might so that you endure everything and have patience; 12 and by giving thanks with joy to the Father. He made it so you could take part in the inheritance, in light granted to God’s holy people. 13 He rescued us from the control of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of the Son he loves. 14 He set us free through the Son and forgave our sins.

The message that bears fruit in a community is evidenced by the fruit of good works. It is often only through good works that the Messenger can ever be seen and experienced. While we know that good works won’t save us, it is by our good works that others see Jesus. What good works are you doing that are bearing fruit in the lives of those around you? Can you teach? Preach? Serve? Give? Comfort? Feed? Advocate?

Paul reminds us today to be the message that will taste sweet to someone who needs to hear it. In that way we will all be fruit-bearers to a hungry world.

May the Lord will see our efforts and proclaim them to be berry, berry good.

Taste and See that the Lord is Good by Becca Ziegler

Abide in Me

Posted on by Betsy

It is said that in life, success comes more from who you know than what you know. I think there is some truth to that. When we are pursuing a new job, a raise, a promotion, finding an appropriate mate, a good outcome at court, a favorable loan rate, a lower price on a new car, etc., the people at the other end of those transactions make all the difference in the final result. If you know them and if they like you, your chances of success might be increased. It’s all about knowing the right people.

Jesus’ famous “I AM” statements reveal who he is, using a series of metaphors and analogies. In today’s passage, Jesus tells his disciples that he is the True Vine of Israel. He makes this statement while they are on their way from the last supper in the Upper Room to the impending arrest, trial, and crucifixion. He is trying to reassure them that even when he dies, their connection will never be severed. They, and we, are the branches to his vine, and it is that connection that gives us strength, hope, and determination. Knowing Jesus makes all the difference in our lives.

John 15 (New Revised Standard Version)

4 Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.

If you read this entire chapter in John, you will see that the word “abide” is used ten times. Jesus surely wants us to understand how to abide in him! And there is a reciprocal blessing here. When we abide in him, he abides in us.

So, how do we abide in Jesus?

Abiding means, first of all, studying the word of God. “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.” (v.7) When we look into the word of God and see the Son of God, we are changed by the Spirit of God into the image of God, by the grace of God, for the glory of God.

That is what abiding is all about. 

This is a good time to stop and consider your daily practice of studying the word. Do you take time in the morning to read Scripture? Do you meditate on his word as you pray? So many times we think God has not heard or answered our prayers when the truth is, we haven’t been abiding in his Word, where the answers can be found. Do you need a better daily practice of abiding in the Word?

Second, abiding also means doing the work of God. Jesus said in v.5, “He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit.” We know what God is concerned about. He is in the fruit-bearing business. That is His work; that is what He desires for us. And so when we do the work of the Lord through our serving and our giving, we bear the fruit of the father. 

Third, abiding is obeying the will of God. Jesus said in v.10, “If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.” When the branch lives out its life in connection with the vine, it then reproduces the fruit of the vine. Are you obeying God’s will for your life? If the answer is no, I bet the fruit you produce reflects that.

How can you better abide in Christ? He longs to abide in you.

Fruit of the Vine by Kathy Schumacher

The Disrespectful

Posted on by Betsy

When did it become acceptable to be so disrespectful?

Regardless of what side you take on a political or social issue, you will find loud statements of disrespect on both sides. Name calling, snide remarks, hate words, slander…all these are weapons in the war of words which society fully engages in day after day. Social media is very anti-social. News is not so much newsworthy as it is opinionated, and those who are privileged with opinion platforms are loud, inappropriately angry, and seethe with disrespect.

What does this do to us as we listen? Do you walk away from these encounters discouraged, defeated, detached, and with your blood pressure elevated? Me, too.

In our Psalm today we are reminded that happiness can’t be found among the disrespectful.

Psalm 1 (Common English Bible)

The truly happy person
    doesn’t follow wicked advice,
    doesn’t stand on the road of sinners,
    and doesn’t sit with the disrespectful.
2 Instead of doing those things,
    these persons love the Lord’s Instruction,
    and they recite God’s Instruction day and night!
3 They are like a tree replanted by streams of water,
    which bears fruit at just the right time
    and whose leaves don’t fade.
        Whatever they do succeeds.

I have a friend who initially gave up social media for Lent and then decided to stay off due to the constant disrespect he experienced when he expressed his political beliefs. He discovered that his “friends” quickly went on the attack, even if he was trying to respectfully argue a point. I have another friend who is a retired police officer who suffers daily from what he reads on the internet.

I think it is important to remember that the celebrity “news” people and your so-called “friends” on social media platforms are merely dust that blows away. The trick is to not let it get in your eyes as it blows past you. We need to keep clear eyes focused solely on the Lord’s instruction. That helps us to be like trees that are planted by the water that will bear fruit for the kingdom if we focus on keeping the righteous things in the foreground.

4 That’s not true for the wicked!
    They are like dust that the wind blows away.
5 And that’s why the wicked will have no standing in the court of justice—
    neither will sinners
    in the assembly of the righteous.
6 The Lord is intimately acquainted
    with the way of the righteous,
    but the way of the wicked is destroyed.

God blesses the righteous with happiness and destroys the disrespectful.

Perhaps we should all closely monitor the things we engage in that are making us unhappy. My guess is that spending less time engaging with angry people will result in feeling more peaceful. Reading God’s word day and night will result in an intimacy with him that brings calm to our hearts.

And thank you so much for reading At Water’s Edge! May you find peace, hope, and contentment today as you carry his word in your heart.

Come and Sit