Bearing fruit

Good morning, dear friends!


Just wanted to post something briefly to start off your week. I've been thinking about how I can try to use this time of "singleness" to the fullest, being challenged to serve and minister to others for two reasons, one: because I love Christ and the Church, two: because I know it is how God intended us to live as a Body, how we grow and are sanctified, and how I learn to turn to the focus on loving God and others more than self.


The passage I was reading this morning focuses on John 15:8 - "By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples."  Ryle says this - "the point is not what a man should do to be saved but what ought a saved man to do."


What is the meaning of bearing fruit? What is the meaning of doing good works?


I'll leave this exercise to you, for your personal study, as we think about and reflect upon how we can and should be "doing" more for the glory of the Lord.


We were created in His image, work is part of God's design, and as Pastor John says, the curse only changed the nature of work, that work was never the punishment, but something given to man to do, something that God did/modeled for us through creation and still does through providence, etc. God works!


I often revisit the lists in Gal. 5:16-24, to see how my life reflects more of the latter than the former. How am I living by the Spirit? Would people describe me as bearing good fruit as the result of what I say I profess?


I pray that you are all fighting the good fight, struggling and battling against the flesh, all for the glory of our Lord. 


Grace and peace to you.