Finger-pickin' good

Oh, the joys of fruits coming in season—and on sale at my local grocery store! This vine fruit could well be called “grapes of math”! One branch produces so many little edibles!

I “get” that because of all the agrarian references in the Bible, which, of course, reflected the early agrarian culture. Wheat, barley, grapes, olives and more provided that culture with lessons about living for God. Like this one that Paul wrote to the church at Philippi:

And this is my prayer, that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of Christ. (Philippians 1:11)

So, what are those “fruits” or behaviors of a God-directed life?  Paul gave Timothy one list:

But you, man of God pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. (1 Timothy 6:11-12)

Paul must have mulled a lot over how to describe a “fruitful Christian.” There’s also that often-quoted section of Galatians 5:22-23:

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

A friend from years past told how she decided to take one  spiritual “fruit” (from Galatians 5:22-23) and focus on it for a week, trusting God to make her aware of temptations to behave the opposite of it, and to thoughtfully turn her thinking to His ways. She worked as a hospital nurse, and I’m sure in that tension-filled situation she had plenty of opportunity to check the “pulse” of her fruit-bearing.

As for the bowl of fruit pictured above: are you already wanting to reach in and pluck off a few to eat? I think that’s a picture of how Christ wants us to live: that no matter when or where we’re tasted (or tested), His sweetness will prevail.