All along, every person born of a woman lives through a lifelong struggle to do good works before the Lord for our effort to do good works is vehemently opposed by our sinful nature and the forces of darkness.
Like King David, King Solomon married a lot of women. Most of his marriages were prohibited in the sight of God in that God had told the Israelites that they should not marry pagan women. And yet King Solomon loved and married many pagan women. It was wrong, unacceptable – he knew that, but he disobeyed. Why? King Solomon, like all of us, acted carnally, he could not resist the temptation of gathering to himself 700 wives and 300 concubines. Eventually, these women ruined Solomon’s life, leading him into idolatry.
Human beings are habitually sinful mostly because we enjoy sin; sin satisfies our lusts and nourishes our cravings so much that in the presence of laws and commandments, man is still very sinful. As the end of time keeps approaching and the forces of darkness intensify their deception, it is twice as hard today to pursue righteousness as it was in times past.
For Christians to walk in obedience to God’s word for life in these challenging times, God did more than just give us the Bible, He also gave us His Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit inspires self-control in us; and self-control suppresses our lusts, carnal desires, pleasures, and whims. More so, the Holy Spirit strengthens our willpower such that we are more inclined to choose to do good than evil. The Spirit also convicts us of sin when we do something wrong so that we do not continue sinning.
If it had been that we have only the Bible, Christians would not have fared well in being victorious over sin; we would have been just as sinful as the unbelievers. It takes both the Holy Spirit and the Bible for us to lead a victorious Christian life, overcoming our weaknesses and the tons of temptations that come our way, and walking in obedience to God’s word. And obedience to God’s word results in bearing fruit. Bearing fruit is simply doing good works such as love, honesty, truthfulness, etc. by obeying the word of God.
How or ways to bear fruit as a Christian
The parable of Jesus normally titled the Parable of the Sower gives us an idea of what it means to bear fruit. In the parable we learned that the good ground could not bear fruit on its own; but being a good ground, when it received the seed, it cultivated into maturity and bore fruit by it. The good ground refers to the Christian with a humble heart, whereas the seed stands for the word of God. A Christian can only bear fruit by applying the word of God in his life. Therefore bearing fruit is doing good works by obeying the word of God.
1. The word of God
Having understood what it means to bear fruit, we can easily identify that one of the things that are required for you to bear fruit is the word of God. Concerning the word of God, God has done enough to make His word available to us. He has led faithful men to write and compiled 66 books enriched with soul-saving and godly teachings which lead men to bear fruit such as forgiveness, love, patience, etc. God has made His standard of morality known in the teachings of the Bible that man would know and walk therein to produce good deeds such as hospitality, peace, etc. If all Christians were to continuously live by the teachings of the Bible, fruit-bearing would abound so much to please God. Examples:
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.’ If a Christian comes across this teaching and lives by it, he will bear the fruit of forgiveness.
In Ephesians 4:25, it is written: ‘Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor: for we are members one of another.’ If a Christian comes applies this teaching in his life, he will bear the fruit of truthfulness.
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.’ If a Christian applies this teaching in his life, he will bear the fruits of chastity, modesty, discipline, etc.
But from the build-up above, we have learned that if the Bible was all that God had to offer Christians, then righteousness would still be scarce among Christians for, oftentimes, though we know the word, we are still pushed by our desires and lusts to do evil works such as stealing, embezzlement, lying, etc. against God. So having the word of God alone is not enough to secure your bearing fruit. This is what Jesus said about how to bear fruit.
4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. 5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing (John 15:4-5)
The two other conditions that make bearing fruit possible are these:
- Abiding in Jesus
- Jesus abiding in you
2. Abiding In Jesus Christ
The Greek word translated as abide is meno, and among the possible meanings of meno are stay, continue, dwell, endure, remain, and stand. Accordingly, to abide in Christ is to go on believing, trusting, and depending on Christ and persevering in His teachings. The Christian who abides in Christ has made up his mind already not to turn his back on Christ come what may, and he is in tune with God through prayer and Bible study, and he keeps His word against all odds. Practically, abiding in Christ means:
- You relly on the Lord Jesus and acknowledge Him only as your Lord and Savior.
- Your confidence is not in man, nor in materialism, nor in riches, etc. but in Christ.
- You have made the teachings of the Bible your rule of life and conduct.
- You take God into account in every decision you take.
- You love Jesus than any other person in your life.
- Etc.
3. Jesus abiding in you
The Holy Spirit is also called the Spirit of Christ in verses such as Philippians 1:19, Romans 8:9, and 1 Peter 1:11. This is because, though the Holy Spirit is a distinctive person, He also represents Jesus Christ. The moment we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we received the Holy Spirit and now the Holy Spirit lives in every Christian. As long as the Holy Spirit lives in us, Jesus Christ is living in us for it is written: “Hereby know we that we dwell in him [Jesus], and he [Jesus] in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit (1 John 4:13).” So Jesus abides in us through His Holy Spirit.
Abiding in Christ + Christ abiding in you = your relationship with God
You abiding in Christ and Christ abiding in you cumulate to one thing, which is your relationship with God. As a Christian, you are in a relationship with God. This relationship was established at the moment you accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. The you-and-God relationship exists because you have faith in Christ, adhere to His teachings, and acknowledge Him as your Lord and Savior. God in His turn has accepted you as His son or daughter by giving you His Holy Spirit to dwell in you. By so doing, He has established a very strong bond with you.
Your relationship with God is maintained and strengthened the more and more you engage yourself in the things of God especially daily Bible study, daily prayer, attending church service, fasting, etc. These aforementioned activities do not only strengthen and keep the relationship going but also promote the relationship; that is to say, these activities draw you nearer and nearer to God the more and more you engage in them on daily basis.
As a Christian, your relationship with God will decide whether you will bear fruit or not, or whether your fruit will last or not, or whether you will endure in bearing fruit or not. Sincerely, God becomes real to you and you see much of his contribution and influence in your life the more and more you draw near to Him.
When your relationship with God is strong, you are well acquainted with God’s standard of morality, you turn to have a strong sense of morality, and you become more inclined to do right than to do wrong. And even when you are going wayward, the strong presence of God in your life will prompt you to be on track. It almost becomes automatic that when your relationship with God is so strong, you do not struggle with sin, nor struggle to obey God; hence you do not struggle to bear fruit such as kindness, love, gentleness, etc. to the glory of God.
It is very hard for a person to look in the eyes of his loving father and insult him to his face. In the same way, if your relationship with God is so strong, it always occurs to you that God is with you wherever you are and is watching you. That awareness of the presence of God makes it hard for you to indulge in things that go against God, rather, you are more inclined to bear fruit – that is, do good works that please God.
A relative of mine offended me so bad and I had a grudge against him. I was so hurt, annoyed, and so on. To speak frankly, I did not intend to retaliate, but I was so hurt to the extent that I resolved never to be on talking terms with him nor have anything to do with him ever again. Since I took that decision, I never had peace of mind. This is because I felt so strongly in my heart and my mind that God disapproves of my decision and that I should repent from it. This strong feeling kept bordering me for days on end and to such an extent that, at some point, I even wanted to go to God in prayer to explain to Him why I was not wrong to resolve not to have anything to do with him again. Eventually, I succumbed to the will of God and made peace with him and we have been on good terms since then.
But during the time that I had a grudge against him, though I knew that the Scriptures speak against having a grudge with someone (James 5:9, Lev 19:18), that did not move me very much because I focused on the bitterness I felt, not on the Scriptures. The pressure I felt to cancel my decision came from the strong feeling in my heart that my God does not approve of my decision and He wants me to cancel it; this was the drive that made me do away with the bitterness and make peace with him as fast as possible. I felt God’s disapproval because I was in a good relationship with Him and I felt His presence in my life so much.
So I for one have learned by experience that my relationship with God keeps me in the course of obedience to His word leading me to bear fruit such as forgiveness, peace, chastity, modesty, etc. And even when I am going wayward, His strong presence in my life will prompt me and help me to keep to the path of righteousness.
I also learned that my relationship with God helps me to suppress the hindrances I face in my attempt to bear fruit. In my case, it helped me to overcome the bitterness and the anger I felt in my heart in order to bear the fruit of peace. As Christians, we face several hindrances in our attempt to bear fruit such as the desires of the flesh, the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the pleasures of this world. However, the good news is that our relationship with God can help us overcome them all so that we can bear much fruit.
It is so sad that there are a lot of Christians who are living in habitual sins day in, day out, and yet they do not seem to have any compunction, nor care to stop. The reason is that their relationship with God is suffering a crisis, and the gap between them and God is widening, and God appears to be far away from them, and they do not feel His presence and hence, His influence in their lives is so minute.
The stronger your relationship with God is, the more you turn to bear fruit. The weaker your relationship, the more unfruitful you become. God becomes more real to you and you feel his presence more and more when you build a strong relationship with Him.
Conclusion
Keeping the word of God, abiding in Christ, and Christ abiding in you are all that it takes to bear fruit. In other words, the word of God and your relationship with God are what it takes to endure in bearing fruit for life.
Food for thought
- What is bearing fruit?
- How does your relationship with God help you to bear fruit?
- What could possibly be wrong with a professing Christian who is not bearing fruit?
- What differentiates the Christians who bear fruit from those who do not?