Produce the fruit
Posted on Oct 04, 2017 by Heather Lewis
I made apple crisp today, and it hardly made a dent in the bag of apples my kids picked at a local orchard this weekend. The cider donuts and slushies are long gone, but what to do with all of the apples? As a kid I remember climbing what seemed to be very tall trees, and sitting up there chomping away on sweet, juicy apples — I’m sure we brought mountains of them home, and mom probably canned lots of applesauce.
Our scripture this week is a parable set in a vineyard instead of an orchard, but nobody is doing anything with the fruit. The owner of the vineyard is trying to collect his fruit from the tenants working the land, and they refuse, to put it mildly. Jesus compares it to God sending prophets, and then His Son, all of whom are rejected. The fruit of the Kingdom is not even produced, much less shared.
What do you consider the fruit of God’s Kingdom? Is it love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control as written in Galatians 5:22? That’s such a long list! I don’t think Paul intended for the Galatians to attempt to produce all of those fruits of the Spirit all of the time, but instead to strive for those goals in our actions toward each other.
I think this season I’ll pick a fruit of the Spirit to focus on each day. Peace, patience, gentleness — who couldn’t use more of those in their daily lives? And I’ll keep looking up apple recipes to whittle down our bounty — and of course share with our neighbors.
Happy Fall!
Heather Lewis