Abide With God and Bear Much Fruit

Abide With God and Bear Much Fruit | John 15: 1-17

If you remain in my love you will follow my commandment, and you will bear fruit. Do you bear fruit? How do we know? Watch whether others come to you. If you see others coming to you to gather from you, or to take a bite from you; it is an indication that you are bearing fruit. I watch birds. Birds gather on trees that provide food, provide shelter. We do not evaluate our fruitfulness by looking inward at our intentions, but by watching outward at whether we are being

The Greeks came to Jesus. The Centurion, whose daughter was ill, came to Jesus. People searched after him day and night, brought their sick and needy to Him. Jesus kept bearing fruits of mercy, generosity, and inclusivity.

People come to you to gather difficult fruits. Jesus bore much, meaning, difficult fruits. In John 8: 1-11, we have the story of the woman caught in sin. And our binary sense of morality says, the scribes and Pharisees were insensitive to women, they brought her to Jesus to trap Jesus, etc. I would think that there was at least a few among them who wanted help her, support her; they were unable because of the society they lived in. They were unable to bear fruits of such great quality. They come to Jesus for that difficult fruit—mercy. Mercy, compassion, inclusivity, etc. are difficult fruits to bear, but it is made possible if we abide with Him (John 15: 1-8).

Agape helps us bear difficult fruits. The ancient parable of the foolish rich man (Luke 12: 13-21) resonates with startling relevance today. "I will tear down my barns and build larger ones," he declared, believing that abundance could be hoarded, that security could be stockpiled. Yet his story ends not in triumph but in tragedy—a life spent accumulating rather than cultivating, gathering rather than giving. His barns grew larger, but his soul remained barren.

The image of the Good Samaritan serves as a master class in fruitfulness. Here was someone who possessed neither political power nor social standing, yet their willingness to stop, to see, to serve created ripples of healing that continue to inspire millennia later. They understood that true abundance (much fruit) is not measured by what we accumulate, but by what we give away—not by the size of our barns, but by the generosity of our hearts.

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