Are You Grasping for Fruit?

“Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.”

- John 15:4

Matt and I live down the street from a walking path that’s adjacent to a cherry tree field. It’s fun to keep an eye on them throughout the year and watch their changes. March is the best time because that’s when you start to see the tiny buds that transform into gorgeous white flowers all within two or three weeks. Sadly, the flowers don’t last long, but they fall and the trees become lusciously green as the cherries start to develop. Right now, in May, the cherries are perfectly crimson and delicious, but they will eventually be picked or rotted and the fruit season will be over until next year!

Think about that for a second. Not all fruit trees bear fruit all year long. The fruit is only available for one out of four seasons. But as long as the trees are healthy and nourished, there’s always the expectancy for the fruit to arrive in its season despite the long wait.

Consider this imagery as a representation of your life as a Christ-follower. The fruit represents blessings, answered prayers, the result of overcoming sin, and/or the fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control). As long as you are connected to the vine (Jesus) and abiding in Him, you can rest assured that the fruit will grow IN ITS SEASON. You do not have to toil or force growth. All you need to do as a branch is stay connected to the vine!

Oftentimes, however, you might start itching and feeling anxious when you look at your life (your trees) and see no fruit. You may begin to question if you’re doing something wrong. You think that it’s fruit season, so you start freaking out and eventually “detach” yourself from the vine to find fruit somewhere else. You’ll try to take things into your own hands instead of resting in God’s grace. 

For example, maybe you’ve been sharing Jesus with a closed-off loved one and you’re tired of them rejecting the gospel. So, the next time you talk to them it turns into a heated argument. Even if your intentions are well-meaning, you’ve begun to operate in the flesh instead of understanding that your role is to simply plant seeds and continue to love them. You’ve detached from the vine to try to force your own timeline.

Maybe you’ve been trusting that God will bring you a spouse, but you are getting tired of waiting, so you decide to settle with someone who isn’t a believer. Instead of enduring the pain of waiting and preparation, you detached yourself from the vine to find out-of-season “fruit.” 

It could be that you followed God’s direction in faith, but all you see around you are things falling apart. It might be tempting to detach from God and take things into your own hands. Because of the bleak “trees” around you, you might want to reverse your decision instead of trusting that the harvest will be fruitful when it’s time. 

In my case, I find myself trying to operate in my own strength instead of God’s. For example, the six months before getting married was extremely difficult for me. Between disciplining middle schoolers, constantly getting sick, enduring lower back pain, planning a wedding, and preparing to move across states, it was an unequivocable hard season. I would cry every morning on my way to work because it felt like I was withering away, so I seriously debated quitting my job. I realized at one point, however, that I had detached myself from the vine. So on my way to work, I started worshipping and praying hard for His strength, protection, and peace. Those prayers of being attached to Him sustained me the rest of the semester.

Maybe you’re in an incredibly painful season– physically, emotionally, or mentally. Out of desperation, the temptation is to detach from the vine and find sustenance somewhere else– binge eating, endless screen time, drugs, getting drunk, porn, or whatever it is. You start grasping for “knock-off” fruit instead of staying attached to Christ and His love through the pain.

Finally, you might already be detached! Maybe you’re trying to get rid of a specific sin— lashing out in anger or gossiping or lusting and you keep beating yourself up when you fall. So you tell yourself, “I’ll try harder next time,” just to fall again. Instead of relying on God’s grace and your identity in Him, you’re operating from strife. This is not to say we don’t play a part in our growth and setting aside of sins; rather, it’s important to evaluate if you’re operating by being attached to God’s forgiveness, grace, and love or to your shame, embarrassment, and self-hatred.

These examples are limited but hopefully give you the idea that when we detach from resting in God, it’s because we are expecting fruit when it’s not time yet. Our journey with Jesus is all about resting, waiting, trusting, and having hopeful expectations that He will come through for us. 

Once again, the majority of a fruit tree’s life is in the unseen growth process. When you see a tree without leaves in the winter, it seems like nothing is happening, but it’s in the process of making room for another season of blooms. Death is necessary for life. So, the next time you feel like there is “lack” in your life, that is the time to remember to rest and trust in God. 

Take a Moment:

• Are you currently in a situation where you are tempted to detach from the vine to seek fruit from somewhere else? 

• Reflect on seasons in your past to remind yourself how God came through even when it seemed like there was no way. 

• How does it make you feel knowing that there will always be a fruit season? How can this understanding help you find peace in the waiting and the pain?

Waiting for fruit instead of grasping for fruit is what it means to live by faith.

-Alina