“This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.” John 15:7–8, NIV, 1984).
My Musings – What kind of fruit? “I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last.” (John 15:16, NIV 1984). As one commentator (Edwin A. Blum) has said, “fruitfulness is the result of the Son’s life being reproduced in a disciple. And the Apostle Paul shows us what that looks like. “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” (Galatians 5:22–23, NIV 1984).
This contrast greatly with “the [fruit] of the sinful nature [that] are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like.” (Galatians 5:19–21, NIV 1984). A life marked by these shows one who is just as obvious not His disciple.
My Advice – “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.” (Jeremiah 17:7–8, NIV 1984).
How can this be? “If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit.” (John 15:5, NIV 1984). It’s very important that we remain in Him. “If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.” John 15:5–6, NIV 1984).
Not remaining in Him are those who never really belonged in Him in the first place. “They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.” (1 John 2:19, NIV 1984).
Let’s show ourselves “to be [His] disciples.” Because if the fruit doesn’t last, we never really belonged.
The Brew Is A Musing 