The way or path to holiness is fruit-bearing. Better said, the way to lead a holy life before God and man is by bearing fruit. The matter is that God requires it of us to be holy just as he also requires it of us to bear fruit. It is written:
Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord: (Hebrew 12:14). Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy (1 Peter 1:16).
Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you. (John 15:16)
Bearing fruit and holiness count a lot in one’s endeavor to walk with God into eternal life. But are they related?
Holiness refers to a person’s purity from sin or a person’s moral integrity. And bearing fruit is the habit of doing good deeds by obedience to God’s word. What link is there between holiness and fruit-bearing? How are they related?
If a Christian studies the Bible and learns the truth, which is the word of God, and lives by it, such a person will do good works such as love, honesty, faithfulness, etc.; and this is what we call bearing fruit. And if a Christian’s life is characterized by fruits such as love, patience, kindness, gentleness, etc., how do you think that Christian’s life will be? Certainly, his life will be nothing but holy. We bear fruit to holiness. In other words, holiness is an aggregate of the fruits we bear.
Holiness does not exist in a Christian’s life until that Christian has made a habit of bearing fruit. Holiness is like a puzzle you have to put all the pieces together to have the whole.
So holiness is the whole and the fruits you bear are the pieces that come together to form it.
Examples of bearing fruit to holiness
Meet Faraj. Faraj is a Christian young man who loves the Lord. He is regular at church, prayerful, and studies his Bible daily. Through daily Bible studies, he came across:
In 1 Corinthians 6:18, it is written: ‘Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body.’ —Faraj lives by this teaching and bears the fruit ‘chastity’.
In 1 John 2:15, it is written: ‘Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.’ —Faraj lives by this teaching and bears the fruit ‘abstaining from worldliness’.
In 1 Thessalonians 5:17, it is written: ‘Pray without ceasing.’ —Faraj lives by this teaching and bears ‘prayerfulness’.
In 2 Timothy 2:22, it is written: ‘Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.’ —Faraj lives by this teaching and bears the fruits ‘chastity’, ‘modesty’, and ‘discipline’.
In Romans 12:20, it is written: ‘Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.’ —Faraj lives by this word and bears the fruits ‘mercy’ and ‘love’.
In John 13:13-14: ‘13 Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am. 14 If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another’s feet.’ —Faraj lives by this teaching and bears the fruits of humility and serviceability.
In Ephesians 4:32, it is written: ‘And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you.’ —Faraj lives by this teaching and bears the fruits of kindness, forgiveness, and mercy.
In John 3:11, it is written: ‘Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness.’ —Faraj lives by this teaching and bears the fruit ‘truthfulness’.
Now let put the pieces together. So far, Faraj has born fruits such as chastity, prayerfulness, abstinence from worldliness, modesty, discipline, mercy, love, humility, serviceability, kindness, and truthfulness. All these fruits cumulate to shape Faraj’s life into a life of holiness. The people in Faraj’s neighborhood, both Christians and unbelievers, will testify that he is holy because of the good fruits he bears. Hence, fruit-bearing is the road or way that leads a Christian to holiness.
Conclusion
Holiness is a term that scares many Christians. This is because, for most Christians, they do not know how to get to holiness. Yet holiness is required of God just as bearing fruit is required of God. Your life begins to take the form of holiness if you begin to bear fruit. Therefore holiness is nothing more than the result of bearing fruit. If you wish to be holy, this is what to do: start bearing fruit; and bearing fruit is as simple as living by God’s word. And God’s word is obtained by studying the Bible.