From the beginning, the Lord has commanded and required fruitfulness from His people. In the very first book of the Bible, in His very first command to His newly created couple FRUITFULNESS was the topic!
All throughout Genesis this desire of God is echoed. He speaks it to Noah’s family after the flood. He issues promises to Abraham regarding His plan to make him VERY fruitful to the point of making nations come from him. He speaks a blessing of fruitful increase regarding Ishmael.
When Isaac pronounced a blessing on his son, Jacob he spoke these words:
3 May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and increase your numbers until you become a community of peoples. 4 May he give you and your descendants the blessing given to Abraham, so that you may take possession of the land where you now live as an alien, the land God gave to Abraham.
Later God echoed and confirmed this blessing to Jacob in Genesis 35:
11 And God said to him, "I am God Almighty ; be fruitful and increase in number. A nation and a community of nations will come from you, and kings will come from your body. 12 The land I gave to Abraham and Isaac I also give to you, and I will give this land to your descendants after you."
When Joseph’s second son was born in
All of these accounts speak of the fruitfulness of the womb and the blessing of children, a subject very near and dear to my heart, but NOT the subject of today’s post! What I really want to consider is the further implication of fruitfulness in EVERY area of our lives! I hope that I am not taking any of this out of context. It is just my random thoughts that I have been mulling over lately!
When the spies went into the
Psalm 128 is one of the beautiful Songs of Ascents:
1 Blessed are all who fear the LORD,
who walk in his ways.
2 You will eat the fruit of your labor;
blessings and prosperity will be yours.
3 Your wife will be like a fruitful vine
within your house;
your sons will be like olive shoots
around your table.
4 Thus is the man blessed
who fears the LORD.
5 May the LORD bless you from
all the days of your life;
may you see the prosperity of
6 and may you live to see your children's children.
Peace be upon
This blessing for those who fear the Lord and walk in His ways lead to the natural next step. When we are obedient and faithful we will see the fruit of our labors rewarded. I am NOT speaking of salvation. That comes from God alone. I am not endorsing works. I am, instead, focusing on the need for a multi-generational vision for our walk. I am speaking of taking a stand. I am pondering the importance of prioritizing our life and ordering our days “aright”. We are faced with many choices. Some are obviously bad choices that are easily discarded, but there are many good things, events, programs, and traditions that beckon us from every corner of our world, both the secular and the sacred.
Some are for this season. Some are not. Some are fruitful. Some are plainly fruitless. Some are good. Some are BEST!
Discerning the difference is the difficulty.
May we welcome the RAINY seasons that bring growth and may we not seek only the sunshine of pleasantry. May we choose activities with an eye on tomorrow instead of only on today. May we not only imagine prosperity to be defined by liquid assets, but in the deep and undying character that we pass from one generation unto the next! Will my daughter’s three years of ballet be as much of a blessing to future generations as her love of the Word of God?
May we focus on what REALLY matters according to the Word of God:
The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love. (Galatians 5: 6b)
In context, this passage tells us that our works are not the point… it is the attitude of serving one another with love in order to bring them to faith in God that will have eternal value!
Paul later wrote in Colossians chapter 1:
“ All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God's grace in all its truth.”
“And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God”,
I am not telling anyone else where to draw his or her line and what activities to participate in, but for me… I have to evaluate everything I do… will dragging my children to various activities that enrich their education draw us closer together? Will it draw them closer to God? Will rushing around to get to all of these wonderful events really deepen their walk with Christ? Will dividing our family everytime we enter our church bring unity to our family and glory to God. Will children being segregated into age groups increase their wisdom or their folly? What will produce REAL fruit in my children? What will produce a fruitful witness to those around us? A frantic mom with a group of children being dragged to Bible Studies, Co-ops, meetings, events, planning sessions, and even religious education classes maybe only be bringing fatigue to her family as she grabs fast food and tosses the undone laundry into the corner. This may not be true in every situation, but I must really hold each choice under the microscope and examine it for the potential seed of fruitfulness!
I love the passage in Rev. 22 about the tree that bears twelve crops of fruit… each for its season. In addition, we are told that the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations! Again, I don’t want to rip things out of context to fit my own meanderings, but I have often considered whether things produced or pursued in the WRONG season can bring healing or do they bring injury (subtle or more pronounced as the individual case may be).
In Ephesians
Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.
And in John 15 we are instructed to CUT OFF the fruitless branch.
Now, certainly, ballet classes are not generally fruitless deeds of darkness, but once again… what eternal value do they have? In our case, ballet had its season. It was especially useful physical therapy for our youngest who had low muscle tone when she was younger, but at this time, it has outlived it usefulness for THIS family!
I do desire to avoid being amongst the foolish who are wandering through fruitless futility:
Psalm 94:11
The LORD knows the thoughts of man; he knows that they are futile.
Romans 1:21
For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened.
1 Corinthians 3:20
and again, "The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.
Everything I do from whether or not I put up a Christmas tree, to whether I purchase store bought bread or make it homemade may have disproportionate value in one situation and an entirely another in a different setting. I cannot tell anyone else what road to walk, but I must scrutinize my choices on a day-to-day basis with this mindset.
Thanks for enduring my ramblings! I know that it is very scattered and probably inaccurate in places, but overall, I know that Lord has been tugging at my heart to watch out for the snares that so easily entangle.
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