Devotions for Teachers: Producing Fruits of The Spirit
My husband has the best yard in our neighborhood. This sounds like it has to be an exaggeration, but it’s really not. Our grass is amazing, and I have nothing to do with it. Anytime I meet a neighbor for the first time, they each say the same thing:
“Oh, you’re the house with the grass! How did you guys do it?”
Unfortunately for my neighbors, I can’t tell them anything. I don’t actually do the work. So, the next thing they each want to know is if they can talk to Chris. They want to meet the guy responsible for the beautiful yard. They want to understand the process he went through to produce something so beautiful.
This reminds me so much of John 15.
15 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
John 15: 1-4
In this passage, Jesus is speaking to his disciples. If you read the chapters right before this point, Jesus has just finished washing their feet, which they tried to keep him from doing. Then, he predicted that one of them would betray him and that Peter would deny him. It’s a lot for the disciples to wrap their heads around. Now he’s talking in garden and vine analogies and expecting them to follow along?
There’s a sense of urgency to everything he’s doing in this section of John. He washes their feet to show them exactly how they should be treating each other, even if the day comes when he is no longer physically with them. And he knows that day is coming soon. When he starts going on about this vine analogy, he’s pressing them to understand something critical.
They need to live their lives in a way that will make others want to meet The Gardener.
He says in the first two lines of John 15 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.”
A few things to notice here: When he says I am the TRUE vine, he’s warning them that there are false vines out there. There are things that look like the path to salvation, but they may not actually produce any fruit.
Second, he says his Father is the gardener. And the gardener cuts off anything not producing fruit. What is the fruit? The Fruit of The Spirt, of course. Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Self Control. If something in your life is preventing you from producing that fruit, it has to go. Who cuts it out? God does.
If you are producing that fruit, through the help of The Gardener, what impact will that have on the people you interact with? They will be attracted to the fruit of your spirit, and they will want to meet your gardener, too. It’s really not unlike the way that my neighbors want to meet my husband when they see his lawn. They want to know what he did to get that kind of grass. Your neighbors will want to know what you did to get that kind of joy, or peace, or love.
The false vines of the world will try to choke out the light. But you know where to find the true light. Shine it on your students, their families, your community. Rely on God to prune your life of gossip, anxiety, anger, jealousy, fear, etc. Be so full of joy and peace that when the stress of life squeezes you, you pour that out on the people you know.
Praying for each of you this week. Have a great week with your students!
