Friday, June 27, 2008

No more rubber grapes!

Jesus tells his disciples in John 15 that if he abides in them and they in him they will produce much fruit.

It is not clear what that fruit is. Is it the fruit of the Spirit or is it the fruit of new lives in the Kingdom? Both, probably.

Ever seen a bunch of rubber grapes? They can look just like the real thing. Makes a nice table decoration. You move them when it is time to put out the turkey the 1st grader made at school for a Thanksgiving decoration.

We spend much of our time making rubber grapes in our lives. By ourselves, that is all we can do. But that is not what Jesus wants. Rubber grapes can not produce real wine. Our efforts are not enough.

I don't want to make any more rubber grapes. I want real wine. I want the power of God to flow through me, a branch, and produce real fruit. Real fruit that will nourish me and those around me. Real fruit of changed lives, people brought into the Kingdom of God.

I won't settle for anything less.

Not anymore.

2 comments:

Minda said...

Interesting picture. Just about the time you were writing this post I was coming home from spending the morning and lunch hour with with some magnates of the rubber grape world. I was thinking about this very same verse and how we just can't "whump up" a crop of fruit because its on a checklist of stuff God commands us to. As you say, only when we turn to God can the miracle of real fruit be evident in our lives. All the rest is just dust and rubber, and fools only those willing to look at the table but now sit down to drink and eat.

Minda said...

um, that was supposed to be, "And fools only those willing to look at the table but NOT sit down and drink and eat."