What does "bearing fruit in every good work" mean?
Colossians 1:10
NLT - 10 Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit. All the while, you will grow as you learn to know God better and better.
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Asked November 16 2013
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Katrice Johnson
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Jim New
What does "bearing fruit in every good work" mean? Jesus Christ taught important spiritual lessons regarding the "fruit" of our lives. What are those lessons, and how well are we applying them? Our eternal life depends on this understanding! God often uses trees and plants as analogies for humans (e.g. Ps. 1:1-3; Jer. 17:7-8). The fruit a tree or plant produces are like the attitudes and behaviour a person produces (e.g. Mat. 7:15-20; Luke 3:8). So, in John 15 Jesus is saying that his disciples should produce attitudes and behaviour in keeping with being a Christian, part of the ‘vine’ (John 15:5). The “fruit” – the attitude and behaviour – Jesus wants his disciples to produce is summed up in John 15:12, where he says: This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. We should have ‘much’ (John 15:5,8) —lots – of “fruit” in our lives. God also says in Gal. 5:22-23 the “fruit” a Christian should produce is, …the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control… These “fruits” are not all attainable immediately but over time as the Believer draws closer to God by reading-studying-and obeying God's word, as the Believer has a closer and more intimate relationship with his Creator and fellowshipping with other like Believers. As we draw closer to God our works should show all these fruitful qualities. In everything we do these Fruits should be evident in our lives, thats why God said “you will be known by your fruits!” God also says: John 15:4-10 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. 5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. 9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love” If these fruits are not evident in our lives or we do not remain in Christ then “our branches wither and then picked up and thrown into the fire and burned!”
Kelli Trujillo
Supporter
Galatians 5:22 tells us that the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Once we're saved, we should be looking to see the fruit of the Spirit increase in us. Luke 17:5 says, The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!” 1 Thes 3:12 says, May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you. 2 Corinthians 3:18 says, And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. As we grow in Christ, we should be able to see these qualities increasing in us in all that we do. As we go about our day at work, at home, in relating to our friends and family members, we should bear these fruits, no matter what we're doing or with whom we're interacting. Often the real test of whether or not the fruit in a person's life is genuine is seeing if that person is able to continue to exhibit that fruit under pressure or throughout a trial of some kind. Sometimes God tests us so that we can see the areas in which we need to grow. Hebrews 12:11 says, No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.
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