Don't Let your Good Fruit Go Bad
I am a notorious lunch box monster. As in, I am the person who will bring my lunch home and leave the leftovers in it for 5 days in a Tupperware container. After that length of time, I get so fearful of the Tupperware that I just honestly throw them away instead of confront the smell. I’ve gone through … a lot of Tupperware. (I know, the environment hates me.)
But I also have a habit of bringing fruit with me, and odds are I just get too busy to take a bite of that apple, or apricot, or whatever else I thought I would enjoy as I packed my lunch that morning.
Every time, there comes a point where it’s just sat in that dark place for too long. What was once a ripe, tasty piece of fruity goodness starts to stink, rot, bruise, and otherwise cause my stomach to turn when I inevitably unzip my bag and find it.
Good fruit that isn’t used goes bad.
As believers we produce fruit. Matthew 7:16-20 tells us that we are known by our fruit:
Are grapes gathered from thornbushes or figs from thistles? In the same way, every good tree produces good fruit, but a bad tree produces bad fruit. A good tree can’t produce bad fruit; neither can a bad tree produce fruit. Every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. So you’ll recognize them by their fruit.
. . .
What happens if you do produce good fruit, but you don’t utilize it?
What if God’s gifted you, and you choose the world (hello, Netflix binge watching) instead of taking time to utilize those gifts?
Our fruit is no longer useful to us or the people around us that could benefit from it. In other words, we let the GOOD FRUIT that God has given us sit in the dark until it becomes useless, rotted, and goes BAD. Good fruit that isn’t used goes bad.
I think we have a responsibility, and a mandate, to steward our spiritual fruit better than the way I steward the fruit in my lunchbox.
So get after it! If there’s something God has placed on your heart, don’t let anything stand in the way of you growing in that area. Don’t wait for the perfect “position,” the perfect “timing,” more “experience,” or any other things that may act as an obstacle. God doesn’t expect perfection, he just asks us to be obedient to Him.
I pray that your fruit will be a blessing to your life and to those around you. You are called by God to impact others, and what God has gifted you with is valuable!
Much love,