Saturday, August 11, 2012

Grace To Me Part #3: Fruit Bearing

Grace is effortless living. This God quality of life is just what happens by accident (fruit) when we believe and awaken to who we are sons of God. Yes! Fruit happens, but it is NEVER about the fruit, it 100% about soaking up the nutrients (love) from the one in whom we are planted. Fruit comes from resting in the vine. But it is about the vine....not the fruit. To focus on the fruit is to glory in self efforts and take your eyes off the vine.

Good fruit in a person's life is birthed from intimacy with the bridegroom. The focus is on the intimacy....not to bear fruit. Bearing fruit apart from that is still a dead work even if the fruit looks good. This is very dangerous and why we must be lead by the Spirit. Eve thought the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil looked good too. I'm sure Ishmael was a handsome young lad. God said to cast out his mother and her son (fruit) simply because it came by works of the flesh. If God is not the father, he is not interested in how good the fruit (a.k.a. behavior) is. Grace is living by the Spirit.

Many have abused the principal of “If you are in grace then you will ____” (speaking of the fruit of grace.) While it is true that grace produces fruit of life in a person, most of the time I have heard it in a form of manipulation to get you to live right. Any way of thinking implying right verses wrong is eating the fruit of the Tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Words like that are satanic. “If you are the son of God, then turn this stone into bread.” Grace will never imply that you must prove you are in grace. That is like proving I am a human. Either I am or I am not.

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