Artificial Fruit
When I was a child my family often traveled down home to east Texas to visit relatives during the summer or holiday season. On one such occasion while visiting at an elderly aunt’s house, my younger brother and I happened to notice a large bowl that contained all kinds of delicious looking fruit sitting on the kitchen table. The fruit included shiny red apples, large oranges, golden ripe bananas and plump juicy grapes. After eyeing the delicious fruit for some time from afar, my younger brother who was probably five or six years of age at the time, could not resist the tempting fruit any longer. When he thought no one was looking, he quickly snuck and grabbed a big shiny apple from the bowl. Upon taking a big bite into the apple, he quickly discovered that the delicious looking apple was not real. The shiny red apple was made of wax. All of the beautiful fruit in the bowl that looked so real and so delicious was simply “artificial fruit. “ Needless to say, my little brother was both embarrassed and dismayed. But, he was mostly disappointed that he had been deceived by such appealing looking fruit.
Although this is a true and comical story from my childhood memories, it is also a story that has a profound message. As Christians, we are expected to bear fruit. In doing so, we must be aware of the kind of fruit we bear. We should ask ourselves, are we bearing fruit that’s real or is it artificial fruit. Is it fruit that looks real, but when tested, it is only fruit for show?
God’s Divine Plan reminds us that bearing fruit includes all that a Christian does to glorify God. Real faith produces real fruit in one’s life. Paul prayed that the Colossians might “have a walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God” (Colossians l: 9-10). In addition, Galatians states in 5:16,22,23 that walking in the Spirit produces the fruit of the spirit which is evident in us by our love for others, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
Jesus reminded his followers that branches can only bear fruit when they remain in the Vine. “Abide in me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him, bears much fruit, for without me you can do nothing” (John 15: 4-5).
Finally, unlike a small child who is innocently deceived by the lure of beautiful artificial fruit, God will not be deceived by such, for he looks at the core of our hearts to determine if our fruit is real.