| What kind of fruit will you produce this year? Posted: 26 Feb 2010 09:03 AM PST
 The past is gone, the future waits; What will that future be?—Dixon, alt. Yet another year has passed, and we are entering a New Year with lots of hopes. During such times, it’s good to take stock of the past. Generally as Christians we do this through different activities at the end and beginning of the new year. It is always good to think about the past. We can think about how God has blessed us, and, perhaps, what He has in store for us this year. But there is something else we have to ponder as we enter this new year. Will we produce good fruits for the Gardener who placed us in this big garden? In Isaiah 5:1-7, we read the Song of the Vineyard. A man had some fertile land, so he decided to create a vineyard. He fenced it in; he made sure there weren’t any stones in it. When he was satisfied that the land was ready for planting, he planted choice, heirloom vines in his vineyard. He also built a tower and a winepress in the vineyard. Because of all his preparation, he thought that his vineyard would produce the best grapes, but to his surprise, the vineyard produced something else–wild grapes. He laments in verse four, “What more was there to do for my vineyard that I have not done it? Why, when I expected it to produce good grapes and it produce worthless one?” This gardener had a great expectation about his seedling he planted, but unfortunately it produced bitter (wild grapes KJV) fruits (worthless-NASB). In verses 5 and 6 we read about the bitter reaction of the gardener towards his worthless vineyard. He says, “I will remove its hedge and it will be consumed; I will break down its wall and it will become trampled ground and I will lay it waste; it will not be pruned, nor digged, but briers and thorns will come up. I will also charge the clouds to rain no rain on it.” How sad! That vineyard was completely uprooted. The gardener had no mercy towards it. Are you like the garden in this song? Are you producing bitter fruit for the one who tends us–God? If you are, take note of the fate of the vines which produced bitter fruits. The gardener destroyed them; he removed its hedges and consumed it. He trampled it to the ground and laid it waste. If you are like the vine in the Song of the Vineyard, there is hope. In John 15 we read of another vine–Jesus. In verses one and two, Jesus says, “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vine dresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it, that it may bear more fruit.” Unlike the vine that was trampled in Isaiah 5:1-7, this vine actually produces good fruit, so the vine dresser or gardener is pleased with it. As Jesus says in this verse, He is the true vine and we, those who believe in him, are the branches. This shows our dependence on and relationship with Christ, with whom God is well pleased. Also take note of the fact that the gardener, instead of destroying the good vine, does remove the branches that are not fruitful. But those that produce fruit are pruned. As branches or members of Christ, sometimes we need pruning to produce better fruit. Pruning is a painful process, but the result is better than the process… the end is better than the beginning. This year, let us be under His hands and accept His pruning in our life to produce much fruits for His glory. May God Bless.  |
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