When we talk about fruitfulness in Christianity, we mean showing positive and productive behaviors in our lives in agreement with the Scriptures. Bearing fruit comprises all the good deeds and moral uprightness we exhibit as Christians and it is by this that we advertise our God to the world.
The call to bear fruit is not made to unbelievers but to the people of God; formally, it was the Israelites, and now, it is Christians. Being fruitful as a believer is simply putting God’s word into practice. And when you do so, your actions become a testimony to the transformative power of faith, showing the influence of God’s presence in your lives. These are the reasons why God wants us to be fruitful:
1. Fruitfulness fulfills God’s plan
No Christian came to Christ by chance; God led us to His Son Jesus so that we would be saved. In God’s plan, our faith in Jesus should lead to positive behavior that reflects the values and teachings of Jesus Christ. Bearing fruit is a situation where we act on God’s word to behave well, showing discipline, love, forgiveness, modesty, and the like. Remember how Zacchaeus a rich tax collector changed for the better upon his encounter with Christ Jesus. He had cheated others to add to his gains, but upon encountering Jesus he promised to repay them.
Your relationship with God is incomplete until your faith in Jesus has transformed you to become a better person than you were earlier. Aside from salvation (John 3:16), God has called us to His son Jesus so that we would bear fruit (John 15:16). The purpose of bearing fruit is not merely to fulfill a duty, but to actively participate in God’s plan for our lives. Just as a tree produces fruit to nourish and benefit others, our actions and attitudes should bring positivity and nourishment to those around us.
2. Fruitfulness reflects God’s character
What do the scriptures say about God? Apostle Paul, Moses, and many others wrote a lot about God’s character that He is merciful, loving, just, holy, etc. God, in His word, commands us believers to mimic His character with no exceptions (Mt 5:48). And we do so by bearing fruit, which is taking God’s word and applying it to better our thoughts, words, and actions. Believe it or not, the unbeliever sees God through you the Christian.
The world does not know God nor acknowledge Him. God only becomes real, the existence of God begins to make sense, and God’s nature is made known to the world of unbelievers when they see the good behavior of Christians. Bearing fruit reflects God’s character and the unbeliever gets to know that God is loving, kind, just, forgiving, honest, etc. when he sees these qualities in Christians. When Christians excel in morality, the unbelievers begin to acknowledge the superiority of our God over his.
3. Fruitfulness is a Christian requirement
As Christians, we all at some point in our lives believed in Jesus Christ to be saved, some do so very early in their lives and some, quite late. From the day we accept Jesus until we die, we are to bear fruit to secure our place in God’s kingdom that is why Paul said, “… continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12),”
In the barren fig tree parable, a fig tree in a garden was not bearing fruit. This dissatisfied the owner and he wanted to cut it down so that it would not occupy space for nothing (Lu 13:6-9). Fruitfulness is a Christian requirement to the extent that God will certainly cut off an unfruitful Christian when He is fed up with him. However, it is unknown how long God tolerates the unfruitful Christian; what matters to us is that we should bear fruit.
4. Fruitfulness brings positive impacts on others
God wants us to bear fruit because it positively impacts others. When we bear fruit, we become agents of positive change, influencing others through our deeds. A man called Zacchaeus was a rich tax collector who made his money by shady means. When he encountered Jesus, he repented and believed in him. Right away he started bearing fruit; he gave half of his possessions to the poor and paid four times what he extorted from others (Luke 19:1-10).
So Zacchaeus, someone who cheated others to prosperity, became a donor to better people’s lives thanks to his new-found faith in Christ Jesus. God expects this sort of positive change from believers. Moreover, our fruitfulness inspires others to be better, gives hope to others, and encourages unbelievers to embrace the Christian faith to become better people.
5. Fruitfulness is beneficial to our lives
One important piece of evidence that God has plans to prosper us (Jer 29:11) is that He has given us His word to straighten our lives. Whoever keeps his word bears fruit; whoever bears fruit has chosen life and peace over troubles and death. You can bear witness that some of the terrible times you went through in life were the consequences of your own bad deeds.
Now, it is time we understood that the first and main beneficiary of the good fruit we bear is ourselves. Trouble follows every evil doer, whether Christian or an unbeliever. But the one who keeps God’s word to bear good fruit saves himself from addiction, poverty, shame, imprisonment, diseases, and many more.
Conclusion
As we can see, bearing fruit means living out and showing the good qualities and beliefs of being a Christian. It’s about changing in a way that improves our lives and affects those we meet positively. We should always remember that God requires us to be fruitful. When we understand why it’s important to bear fruit or do good things, we take the chance to make the world a better place, showing everyone how faith in Christ can change lives.