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Peaches and Other Fruit

The little Red Haven peach tree has grown up. This year it has produced enough juicy red globes to fill almost 30 quart bags for the freezer. It is really amazing what can happen with time and growth. The fruit is sweet.

The tree started out quite small, but each year seemed to produce a few more peaches. Each peach was savored and enjoyed, but there was never enough to save for the winter, until this year. We ate until juice was dripping from our elbows and our sticky smiles beamed. This is good. This is what a peach tree is for, and it is worth the wait.

There is a plum tree in the yard that has not produced a single fruit in the same amount time, not even a single blossom. There are leaves, but that is all. It seems such a waste, to be a fruit tree and not bear fruit.
I wonder if my life is producing any fruit. God's purpose for my life is to "Bear much fruit." John 15:8. I have had many years of receiving nourishment for God's word, but is the effect seen in my thoughts, words and actions?
"Let your love go out for those things that Jesus loved, and withheld from those
things that will give no strength to right impulse. With determined energy seek to learn, and to improve the character every day. You much have firmness of purpose to take yourself in hand and be what you know God would be pleased to have you. . . Thoughts of God and heaven are ennobling." Ellen White 1893
That is bearing more fruit every day. And if I want to do just that, what should I do? Think of God and heaven every day.

"Abide in me are words of great significance. Abiding in Christ means a living refreshing faith that works by love and purifies the soul. It means constantly receiving the Spirit of Christ, a life of unreserved surrender ot His service. Where this union exists, good works will appear. The life of the vine will manifest itself in fragrant fruit on the branches. The continual supply of the grace of Christ will bless you and make you a blessing, til you can say with Paul, "I am crucified wtih Christ: never the less I live; yet not I but Christ liveth in me." (Gal 2:20)." "That I May Know Him"

Living in Christ. What a rich experience! Fruit bearing for the glory of God. And just remember, all that fruit is for the blessing of others. The peach tree didn't eat a single peach that it grew this year. It gave them all to us. And that's how it works with the fruit of our life too. Those precious fruits are gifts to others. Our sweet words, our patience, our selflessness, giving up our rights, our joy, love, generocity, forgiveness, understanding. All these things come from God, and if we are lacking them, we get them from abiding in Him.
"...Look to Christ. Let the mind dwell upon His love, upon the beauty, the perfection of His character. Christ in His self-denal, Christ in His humiliation, Christ in His purity and holiness, Christ in His matchless love - - this is the subject for the soul's contemplation. It is by loving Him, copying Him, depending wholly upon Him that you are transformed into His likeness." Steps to Christ, p. 71
Good fruit appears in our life as a result of dwelling (camping out) on His love, and beauty, His good character. It transforms us. It is transforming me.

I just read "The Pineapple Story" about a missionary who grew some pineapples out in the jungle with the help of a hired man, and expected to eat them himself when they were ready. He was so angry when the natives stole them that he did some pretty selfish things. Years passed and he learned about giving up his rights to God. He prayed and gave his pineapple patch to God, and gave up his right to the pineapples. From then on, it didn't matter if the natives ate them or not, he didn't get angry. The natives noticed the change and came to ask him about it. What is the difference? When he told them, they said to one another that the missionary had become a Christian. And at that point, he was finally able to eat some of his pineapples. He went from being a leafy tree to one that began to bear fruit, and it made a huge difference in his ministry.

Are there any rights you need to give up, so that God can work in you and cause you to bear fruit too? The fruit will be sweet.
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