Everybody is Bearin'

When's the last time you read a bible passage and you couldn't get it out of your head?

Church planting is hard, but planters can make it harder. Putting too much pressure on ourselves all because we forget who's really in control. And when the desired output does not match the focused exertion, it gets hard yet again.

But a stranger led me to see things in a new way. Earlier this month while teaching a seminary class, a student alluded to how hard it is to bear fruit. Matthew 7 came to mind. I desperately wanted to console him with a comment dripping with positivity, but the passage left me awestruck. Then I had an Inigo Montoya thought moment. "You keep using that word, I do not think it means what you think it means."

The passage said, "you will recognize them by their fruits." For quite some time, I thought only believers produced fruit. But here in Matthew 7, Jesus is pointing out the fruit of the false prophets in how they deceive people with their gifts. And then a sense of church planting renewal happened.

I want to be seen as one of God's people that speak love and truth on behalf of God, and people want to know God more. Being so concerned about bearing fruit can cause an abuse of gifts due to making things all about me. Nobody wants to be a false prophet in the church or the kingdom. But it's far too easy to focus on output. Even wolves have output.

The next day we gathered for class and I shared with that student what I had been chewing on. That we all bear fruit, and that some of the fruit that we produce will be burned anyway. I was encouraged because of this student's words. The student was encouraged to know that God wants the good fruit.

Our doctrine and our deeds lead to fruit. I see it in parenting all the time. It's beyond frustrating when one of my kids uses my words against me. Even worse when I tell them to do x and x comes to bite me in the end. But I stand encouraged like that student - God wants the good fruit. He's always in control. He's always wanting our best. Our God is a good God.