Producing Fruit

Daily Reading: Luke 19

“…and to those who use well what they are given, even more will be given. But from those who do nothing, even what little they have will be taken away.” Luke 19:26b

I think sometimes we Christians don’t like this passage because we are confronted with a harsh sounding Jesus, yet the Gospels are full of similar passages. While we emphasis that our salvation is the work of God and that our hope by faith alone we can never get away from passage after passage where Christ calls us to be a people who produce fruit. 

Maybe if we knew what kind of fruit we were created to produce it would help us know how to take this and similar passages. Within the Gospels are two passages that sum up the whole of the kinds of fruit we are called to be about, Matthew 22:37-40 and Matthew 28:16-20.  Basically we are called to produce there fruit of LOVE, ever increasing love for God and for the people around us, and out of our love we are to produce disciples. We are the chosen messengers of the Good News to a world that needs to hear it. Christ even shares how we are to love. We love sacrificially and we love through service to those in need.  

We can go into more depth at a latter time in developing these themes, but for todays Scripture I find that Christ is saying if you have received the gift of the Fathers love, fruit needs to be the outcome. It is kind of a harsh way to look at, but as I work through this passage while placing my trust firmly on the God’s grace I have to believe those people who never produce fruit have never really surrendered in faith to receive Christ. 

They may be active church members. They may know of God and even be good people, but they have never taken up their Cross to follow Jesus. The walk of the disciple is not about keeping balance, it is a full on sold out surrender to Christ. Then we will produce fruit!

Lord, help me take up my cross, daily and follow you.  Amen