There is lovely apple tree in my mom’s yard that has grown very large and very fruitful, so large and so fruitful that its branches hang heavy and droop with perfect little green and red apples.
Not too long ago, I was standing below that very tree, holding a yellow plastic bag, helping to collect some of the abundance. At some point, I remember looking up and saying out loud, “How is it possible for one tree to bear so much fruit?” The moment the words left my mouth, my heart quickened with conviction. Why should I be surprised that one tree was able to bear so much fruit? And why should I be amazed that it could bear fruit above and beyond what was expected? Are we not called to do the same? Jesus himself said, “He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit;…” John 15:5b
Jesus makes it clear that we are to bear much fruit and the key to this is to remain in Him because He says, “…without Me you can do nothing.” John 15:5b
I also noticed that very few of the apples on this tree had been corrupted…so much of the fruit was completely unjaded. Likewise, we are called to the same thing—to be uncorrupted and unjaded by the world. “Do not love the world or the things in the world…For all that is in the world…is not of the Father…” 1 John 2:15a, 16a,b
Today, do not love the things of this world, remain in Jesus and bear much fruit.
–Katie Botello
