Canadian author, blogger, mum, minister Sarah
Bessey posted this to Facebook a few days ago: “Tiny fresh summer strawberries!
Glory be. You forget what strawberries really taste like when you eat them out
of season. Then comes July and the local farmers bring out the real thing - and
WOW. The real thing in the right season is always better than the forced and
manufactured, eh?” Immediately a chain of though came to me that I’d like to
share. It’s a bit ramblin’, but hang in there with me.
Psalm 1 says, “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the
ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the
scornful. But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth
he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of
water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not
wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. The ungodly are not so:
but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. Therefore the
ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the
righteous. For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the
ungodly shall perish.” (Psalms 1:1-6 KJV)
Sarah is talking about the real thing in the right season is always
better than the forced and manufactured.
The psalmist, most likely Solomon here, tells us that the person refraining
from certain actions and practicing others will produce their own fruit (the
real thing) in their own (right) season. They are both talking about process.
Jesus, in John 15, says, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the
husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every
branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more
fruit. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in
me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in
the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the
branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much
fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast
forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into
the fire, and they are burned. If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye
shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my Father
glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples. (John 15:1-8
KJV) Jesus is also talking about process. Notice the cutting comes to both
those who bear not (cut off) and to those who are fruitful (pruned back to
produce more). Parable of the talents gets to the same conclusion (the servant
who buried the talent and was not fruitful had what they were entrusted with
taken away; cut off).
How much of our fruit is not ripe because we try to force and
manufacture it instead of letting the process happen? The husbandman owns the
vineyard and is keenly aware of the process. He wants the fruit ripe (mature)
when it is harvested. If we try to feed the nations with fruit that is forced
to ripen off the tree (manufactured: programs) instead of mature fruit that is
ripe with flavor (real thing: his fruit in his season; God’s calling and
anointing) it won’t satisfy the hunger.
Bottom line. Don’t try to be someone else’s fruit. You have your own
special flavor that may come to maturity at a different time than your friends.
What if we only had one kind of fruit in the world? Apples are wonderful, but I
like bananas, too. And peaches, grapes, and blueberries, etc. And what if all fruit
came to maturity, ripeness, at the same time? I like to eat fresh fruit year
round. The Father is very interested in fruitfulness, but He knows your fruit
and He knows your season. The process is abiding in the vine.
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