Good Fruit

In Isaiah 5:1-7, God prophetically gives a song about the vineyard – His people. After He talks about developing the vineyard, verse 2 says, “So He expected it to bring forth good grapes, But it brought forth wild grapes.” In John 15: 2 Jesus reinforces the concept that God is looking for fruit in our lives, “every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away”. In light of this expectation for good fruit one could sincerely ask, “what is good fruit and how much good fruit is necessary?” What size of grapes would be good, how much sugar content should be present, would one large grape be sufficient, or how about three medium size grapes or do there need to be large clusters? Is there a certain color of grape skins that would be preferred green, red, blue or purple, what about seeded or seedless grapes? Are the grapes with more juice better than the more pulpy ones? I would like to think that as a spiritual leader, as a pastor, I am bearing good fruit, but the reality is, like all humans, I am a very flawed person. In light of the call to be fruitful, an honest assessment of my life reveals that I do not possess the ability to bear fruit, even though I would like to. I cannot make fruit appear out of my life. Even though I am required, by God, to measure up and be fruitful, there is a sense in which we are unable to accomplish that on our own. Though God has called us to bear fruit and that the fruit would remain, John 15:16, how do we make that happen? Perhaps instead of focusing on the questions of, “Am I fruitful?” or “What type of fruit or how much fruit”, we should look at what produces fruit. John 15:5 gives us a clue. Jesus says, in the context of abiding in Him and bearing fruit, “without Me you can do nothing.” Yes God looks for fruit in our lives and He expects it. But fruit should be an automatic result of our abiding in Christ and Him working through us. Father, help us to be more conscious of You. Help us to abide with You in a real way, that fruit would naturally abound in our lives.