It seems like the Lord must regularly remind me that fruitfulness is the measure in His Kingdom and not the successes recognized in the world. It’s not a matter of being busy or working harder; rather, it’s a matter of being fruitful.
Why? Because fruitfulness gives glory to God,
“My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples” (John 15:8).
Here are five reasons why I think fruitfulness gives Him glory:
1. Fruitfulness requires maturity, and the Spirit is calling believers today to grow up in Him;
2. Fruitfulness testifies to genuineness—it is how you are known, not by what you may say, but by what others see;
3. Fruitfulness entails purpose, “…Who plants a vineyard and does not eat the fruit of it?” (1 Cor 9:7).
4. Fruitfulness reminds us that is not about us, but it is about Him;
5. Fruitfulness attests to the helplessness of man.
In the parable of the True Vine Jesus emphasizes fruitfulness. Notice the progression:
“Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it so that it may bear more fruit. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing” (John 15:2, 5).
Our Lord begins by establishing the fact to be fruitful, then shares how pruning results in more fruitfulness, and finally our need to be totally dependent on Him to bear much fruit.
This time, my reminder came from reading (again) Andrew Murray’s The True Vine,
What a solemn, precious lesson [pruning]! It is not to sin only that the cleansing of the Husbandman here refers. It is to our own religious activity, as it is developed in the very act of bearing fruit. It is this that must be cut down and cleansed away. We have, in working for God, to use our natural gifts of wisdom, or eloquence, or influence, or zeal. And yet they are ever in danger of being unduly developed, and then trusted in. And so, after each season of work, God has to bring us to the end of ourselves, to the consciousness of the helplessness and the danger of all that is of man, to feel that we are nothing. All that is to be left of us is just enough to receive the power of the life-giving sap of the Holy Spirit (emphasis mine).[1]
Over the course of the last several months, I concluded a new season was here; yet, in looking forward to that season I had forgotten the pruning needed to move into the new work.
Silly me.
Thank you, Lord, for the reminder.
[1] Murray, Andrew. The True Vine, Kypros Press. Kindle Edition, (page 14).
