Want to produce better fruit? Hook up with a better tree.
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Well, it’s happening again. My recent focus on Luke 6:38 and the surrounding verses are yielding a bunch of unexpected insights.
A few days ago I wrote about a conversation with Jesus about Becoming A Fruit Tree. I came away from that discussion with a clear sense that I needed to think about my identity as a follower of Jesus.
Then Jon Swanson discussed Learning Who You Are and Ben Malcomson wrote at Storyline about Identity In Jesus. See a theme?
I always thought the goal was to produce better fruit, which meant life was about making better choices. My question was “which decision has the best outcome?” I thought the fruit was my responsibility.
“No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit,” says Jesus (Luke 6:43).
Turns out the real question is, “To which tree do I belong?”
Orange trees produce oranges. If you belong to the right tree, the fruit takes care of itself.
If Jesus is my tree, I’ll produce His fruit. So when I’m confronted with a tough choice, it’s not about benefits or consequences or results or popular opinion. As a follower of Jesus I need to ask, “What does a follower of Jesus do in this situation?”
Then I do that. Easy-peasy, right?
Of course it’s anything but easy. The answers aren’t always so clear, and there’s that whole thing about Jesus being killed for telling the truth.
Nobody said producing good fruit would be easy.
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