Fruit Bearing Vines

Ezekiel 15:5

5 Behold, when it was whole, it was meet for no
work: how much less shall it be meet yet for any
work, when the fire hath devoured it, and it is
burned?

Ezekiel 15 records God's word concerning a people whose waywardness and rebellion made them useless to Him. God likened the people to the useless wood of grapevines and told the prophet that those useless vines would be cast away and devoured by fire. The idea of Christians bearing good fruit is an important theme in the New Testament as well. Jesus taught that we could know people who faithfully follow Him by the "good fruit" their lives produce.

Later, the apostle Paul wrote that the key to producing good fruit is living under the influence of God's Holy Spirit...

Galatians 5:22-23

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
23 Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

God wants each of us, His beloved, to bear fruit, the kind of fruit that both glorifies Him and influences those around us. We do that when we allow Him to fill us, when we learn to obey Christ's commands...

John 15:4

4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot
bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine;
no more can ye, except ye abide in me.

Without Jesus living in us through the Holy Spirit, there's no way we can bear the kind of fruit God wants to see in us. With Jesus there is nothing we can't do.

Reference: 365 Essential Questions from the Bible
www.barbourbooks.com

The Grim Reaper Preacher says, "Try reading the Bible from cover to cover - you'll like it."