The Cabernet Sauvignon grape growing at the Cascia vineyard. Credit: M. Cascia, nasa.gov |
Jesus gave several examples to illustrate the importance
of bearing good fruit. One was about
knowing false prophets by the fruits they bear (Mathew 7:15-20). Another
was about the seed landing among thorns and being choked out by the
distractions of life, “and bring no fruit to perfection” (Luke 8:14). On the night He
gave Himself up for us, after instituting the Lord’s Supper, He gave the
parable about the vine being pruned to bear more fruit and said, “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 15:5).
The first fruit Paul
listed, love, is how Jesus said everyone could tell whether or not we actually
are His disciples (John 13:35). Some
are also included in the attributes of love in his first letter to the
Corinthians. Others exemplify the types
of growth we can expect as our faith matures.
Like “the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its
fruit each month” along the banks of the river in the city of New Jerusalem,
God invites us to flourish spiritually, bearing all kinds of good fruit in our
lives (Revelation 22:2).