Christ-Centered

Compass Commentary

If you planted an orange tree, what would you expect to harvest within a couple of years – an apple? No, not at all. You’d expect to be picking sweet, juicy oranges to enjoy for a season. As branches looked weak, you’d prune them off as that would improve the overall health of the tree. To maximize the production of the tree, you’d cultivate it, and do everything possible for it to produce lots and lots of oranges. In the same way, Jesus reminds us that, as a Christ follower, He expects us to bear fruit. His fruit looks a bit different from an orange though because His fruit is the lives of other people. As we draw closer to Him, understand and are obedient to His Word, we become like Him, the True Vine, and bear the same fruit that He bears. We must recognize that we are only as productive as the strength of our dependence, trust and faith in Him, and when aspects of our life are unproductive, Christ prunes or disciplines us. Just as pruning a fruit tree ultimately produces more fruit, we sometimes have to be pruned to accomplish Christ’s purposes for us. Pruning may not be pleasant in the short term, but it is necessary to produce not just more fruit, but much fruit!