A Fruitless Life
A FRUITLESS LIFE
“He spake also this parable; A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came and sought fruit thereon, and found none. Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none: cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground?”
Luke 13: 6, 7
King James Version
I was talking with someone on the telephone yesterday and this person made this statement “I feel like my life is useless and I don’t have anything to live for. There is no reason to get out of bed in the morning.” I told the person “You are correct; your life is useless because you are not producing fruit for Jesus. You will always feel miserable and depressed unless you start serving Jesus.”
This person claims to be a Christian yet this person is not serving Jesus. If we aren’t serving Jesus, then our lives are fruitless and unproductive and we need to ask ourselves if we really do love Jesus. We are just taking up space on this earth if we are not serving our precious Saviour. If Jesus were to return today, this person that I was talking to on the telephone would have no fruit for Him.
I used to feel the same way this person feels. I felt like I didn’t have any reason to live or a reason to get out of bed. I had slept on park benches and on concrete floors for months and I really believed that nobody loved me or cared if I lived or died. I had been told all of my life that I was no good and didn’t have a right to live so I began to believe it.
However on the day when I was in the deepest depression that I had ever been in, my precious Saviour came to me and told me that He loved me. It was a day when I had given up all hope of ever finding someone who cared if I lived or died. I had crawled underneath a bed in a mental institution afraid of everyone and everything and wanted to die. The day had started out to be the worse day of my life but it ended up being the greatest and most joyous and happiest day of my life.
My beautiful and tender Saviour put His tender loving arms of compassion and understanding around me and lifted me up and sat me on His lap of unconditional love and I have never been the same. My loving and precious Saviour came to me when I couldn’t go to Him. Is it any wonder that I love Jesus so much and will say as long as I have breath “There is no one like Jesus!”
A very dear and beloved pastor friend of mine who was also my pastor when I lived in Texas said one time in a sermon that he was preaching on serving Jesus “If you want to fly higher than a kite, start bragging on Jesus.” When Pastor Byron made that statement, I honestly thought the man was crazy. However, I began telling everyone I met about Jesus. I told them all of the things He had done for me and I told them how much He loved them.
Many years ago, while waiting for a bus at the bus stop in Texas , there was a man who was waiting for the same bus. It had only been a couple of months previous to that day that I had carried on a conversation with anyone or looked anyone in the eyes so I was very nervous about talking to this man.
I asked God to help me and I told the man “Sir, do you know that Jesus loves you so much that He died for you?” The man didn’t reply so I withdrew once more into the safety of my shell that I had erected in my heart to keep from getting hurt. About five minutes later, the man replied with tears running down his face “Do you think that He could possibly love me?” I told him that if Jesus could love me, He can love anyone.
I don’t know what happened to that man. I don’t know if he ever accepted Jesus as his personal Saviour or not, but this one thing I do know, wherever this man is, Jesus is able to speak to this man’s heart and reassure this man that He does indeed love him. I didn’t give this man the plan of salvation that day at the bus stop because I was just beginning to hold a conversation with people so I just told him what was in my heart.
We read in the Bible “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law” (Galatians 5: 22). The first fruit the Bible mentions is love. I believe the reason why it mentions love first is because without love, everything we do or say is meaningless and stinks in the nostrils of Jesus.
We also read in the Bible “Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets” (Matthew 22: 37 – 40).
I think that sometimes we forget that loving one another is not an option; it is a commandment. We can preach, teach, counsel, sing, write and do other things for Jesus but if we are not doing them because we love Jesus and want to make Him happy, then we are doing them for the wrong reason and we need to get our priorities in order.
If we do not love people, then everything we do for them is meaningless. We can give all of our money to charities and do all the good deeds in the world but if we don’t love Jesus and others and prove it by what we do, we are fruitless and have nothing to give to our precious Saviour.
If Jesus were to look into your heart right now, would He find the fruits of the Spirit, or would He find the fruits of satan? There is no middle ground. We are either serving Jesus or we are serving satan. Who are you serving and whose fruit is in your heart? If you are serving satan and have his fruits in your heart, then you are hurting Jesus and breaking His heart.
Joanne Lowe
March 16, 2008