Are Your Actions Bearing Fruit?

Are Your Actions Bearing Fruit?

Proverbs 20:4 "The slacker does not plow during planting season; at harvest time he looks, and there is nothing."

My friend Jeremy sends out an email every few weeks with a reflection on a bible verse.  I received one in the middle of December and I knew I wanted to share it with you because it addresses such an important topic.  Here is what my friend Jeremy wrote:

“I know a man who, over the past year, ate a doughnut at church every Sunday, ate them and other sweets whenever offered at work, and pretty much lacked dietary discipline. Due to exercise and what he thought was "living right", it didn't seem to affect his weight or anything else. Until he went to the doctor. His lab results showed a large jump in cholesterol over the past year. (You can tell his mom it's still not outside of healthy range.) Whoops! What he thought was having no effect was silently portending possible disaster if not curbed.

I know a student (or two or three) who, over the past semester, did little homework and thought it wasn't really having a big impact on their grade - after all, homework was only worth 10% of the grade! Then came the Final (worth 20%), and they had no idea how to do any of it...then they wondered if there was anything they could do after the Final to get their grade back up? Now, the teacher had to remind them that it's called "Final" for a reason...

These stories made me wonder, what else are we doing that we think isn't harming us because we don't see the immediate effects, but in reality it is leading to a harvest of nothing? I can think of several examples...maybe thinking angry outbursts here and there have no impact only to realize later the victims of these outbursts now fear you? Or perhaps indulging (or just enjoying) gossip or social media dissing and doxxing thinking they do not hurt your ability to see people in God's light? Or that lustful thoughts and actions don't hurt your relationships? Or filling yourself with the world's media messages rather than God's Message in his Word doesn't shape you into something less beautiful?”

I think why this message from Jeremy convicted me so much is because he is talking about something that is so easy to do.  It is something that is so common.  I have definitely found myself in this trap a lot over the past few years.  We can get so caught up in doing normal, every day things that everyone else is doing and we don’t realize the harm we are causing.  I liked Jeremy’s example of how we can think that it is not a big deal to gossip or to talk about others behind their back.  We might think it is not causing any harm, they don’t even know we are doing it.  First, the unintended consequence of this is that you start to see them in a negative light. You start to see them as the rumors portray them instead of how they might really be.  Second, others around you may start to wonder if you talk about them when they aren’t around?  Those around you may think, “He talks about her when she is not here, I wonder if they talk about me when I am not there?”  Another reason gossip is so bad is because it puts division among groups of people.  Your church can’t function as one big family if there is division and gossip amongst members is the quickest way to get that division.  

When I read the sentence about how you may not think your angry outburst has any affect on the people you yelled at and yet you find out later they are scared of you.  This reminded me of a quote by Maya Angelou that said, “I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” We may think that the unkind thing we said to the cashier was not a big deal, but it was.  Everything you say and do has the power to hurt someone, it can also have the power to help someone.  What you say matters.  How you make someone feel matters.

The verse above talks about how the slacker does not plow and then at harvest time he has nothing.  We don’t want this to be us.  We don’t wan’t to spend this life doing as we please and then when it comes time for eternal life we have nothing.  God says we will know what is good by its fruits.  Think about the things you are doing?  Are they bearing much fruit?  Do you know what the fruits of the Holy Spirit are?  The fruits of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.  

If you want to know if the things you are doing are good, you can look at what you get from them.  Are these things you are doing producing good fruit?  When you gossip, does it bring you love, joy, peace, kindness faithfulness, etc?  I know when I gossip is brings an unpleasant feeling in my stomach and then I worry that the person I talked about will find out and feel bad.  Worry is not a fruit of the Holy Spirit.  Judging by how worry makes us feel I do wonder if it is fruit from the devil?  

How about when you are angry and you say things while you are angry?  Does that usually bear good fruit?  Do you usually feel love, joy and peace afterwards?  Does it make the other person feel loved, or at peace?  I don’t think so, that hasn’t been my experience.  When I lose my cool and yell at someone, I tend to feel awful afterwards and they seem to feel awful too.  

What if we all took a few minutes to look at the things we are and are not doing in our lives and asked ourselves, is this bearing fruit?  Is this having unintended consequences?  Maybe it is something you didn’t realize.  For instance, maybe you think you are just helping your son or daughter see the error of their ways, that seems noble right?  What happens when you look at the fruit of your labor though?  Are they seeing the error of their ways?  Are they feeling loved and at peace?  Is it bringing them joy?  Or, do they feel unloved?  Do they feel like nothing they do is ever good enough?  Do they feel like we are being unkind to them?  

I am not saying we shouldn’t ever correct our children, I know we need to train them up in the way of the Lord.  However, what I feel the Holy Spirit was talking about here is when we are dealing with our adult children.  I know we have strong feelings of how they should be living and I know those feelings are coming from a place of love.  However, if what we are doing is not bearing fruit, maybe we could switch tactics.  How can we love and accept them for who they are and yet help them to know God more?  I don’t know.  I do now that I have a strong feeling the Holy Spirit is asking us to look at the fruit of our labors and if it is not good fruit, stop doing it.  Let the Holy Spirit guide you.  Ask the Holy Spirit how you can help your son or daughter and then follow the path He gives you.  

You may be surprised with the path you are asked to take.  Sometimes it starts with love an acceptance and not saying the things you are thinking.  Remember how God dealt with the Israelites when he set them free from Egypt?  He started with love and basics first.  He reminded them how much they were loved.  He allowed them to do things He did agree with, like divorce, because He knew where they were at and He knew they weren’t capable of that yet.  The same may be true with our children, young or old.  They may not be capable of following all of God’s rules yet.  First they much truly feel love and accepted.  Look at all of Jesus’ interactions.  He led with love and acceptance first. Come as you are.  His love and acceptance is what won people over.  He wasn’t saying what they were doing was right He was just loving them in the middle of it.  We can do this too, if we rely on the Holy Spirit to guide us.  How can we all show our love for those around us more?  How can we lead with love? Let's take a close look at the things we are doing that we know we shouldn’t be doing and look for the unintended consequences.  Let’s look at the fruit our life is bearing and make any changes we need to make.  

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask you to bless all those listening to this episode today.  Lord, we want to bear fruit in our lives, show us how.  Lord, we don’t want to be a slacker and have nothing at harvest.  We want to store up our treasures in heaven so at harvest we are fully prepared, show us how.  Lord, we are just trying to love our children and if that is causing them pain please put on our hearts how to love them better.  Dad, I really feel as though you are speaking to parents here and asking us to look at how we are making our children, especially our grown children, feel.  I hear you asking us to look at the fruits of our actions.  Please help us to do that.  We love you Lord, you are truly amazing.  We are so grateful you are so patient with us and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen.

Thank you so much for joining me on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus.  I look forward to spending time with you again tomorrow.  Remember, Jesus loves you and so do I! Have a blessed day!

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