Are you bearing fruit by God’s standards or yours?

Throughout the Old Testament God described the Israelites as His “vine.”

Jesus says He is the true vine of God and He is going to do what we cannot do. We must be grafted onto the fruitful vine in order to bear fruit. If we are not, we cannot. Plain and simple. 

Jesus is the “I am,” the “Great I am”. 

The red letters of Jesus’ words in the Bible are truly meant to be startling. Meant to shock the reader of the text. By doing so Jesus calls attention to those who choose to remain in Him and those who do not. As it relates to the subject of the vine, God removes every branch of the vine which does not produce fruit. Thus pruning the vine. 

For clarity, We don’t lose our salvation when we don’t become fruitful. Just the same we can be Christ-followers but not bear fruit.

One person is storing up rewards in heaven, the other produces little or no reward. In order to bear fruit we must be brutally honest with ourselves if we are moving towards a more Christ-like life, sharing the gospel with non-believers. If we are not, we are likely not bearing fruit by God’s standards.