Growing Deep - Branching Out - Bearing Fruit

The Christian faith is not a set of precepts to be believed, although there are creeds to which we subscribe.  It is not a moral code, although there are boundaries by which we and others are protected.  Instead, the faithful disciple is like a tree.  He continually grows his roots of faith deeper while branching out further and further in love.  The product of his life is like a sweet fruit that provides nourishment and points others its source.

Growing Deep

The faithful disciple grows deep roots of faith through God's Word, God's People, and God's Spirit.  It is from these roots where basic nourishment is found.  Just as the deepening of roots helps the tree to stand during storms and allows the tree to branch out in even greater ways, so roots of God's Word, People, and Spirit help disciples to stand during the storms of life and allow the disciple to reach out to others in more effective ways.  We find life by being rooted in God.  "I am the vine, you are the branches.  Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing." (John 15:5, NRSV)

Branching Out

As a tree branches out, it provides space for nesting birds, shade for the weary, and produces sap that provides for insect and other creatures in the created order.  In the same way, the faithful disicple branches out, giving of herself.  This giving is selfless and motivated only by the desisre to be of the same attitiude as Christ Jesus.  "He made himself nothing; he took the humble position of a slave and appreared in human form." (Philippians 2:7, NLT)  But, as the faithful disciple gives totally selflessly, she finds that she grows and receives more and more, just as the branching out of a tree increases the foliage and opportunity to receive nourishment from the sun and rain.

Bearing Fruit

The sweet fruit of the peach tree is the result of the tree's growing deep and branching out.  The life of a faithul disciple is like that sweet fruit.  The faithful disciple is a tangible sign of God's goodness and abundance.  The life of a faithful disciple gives nourishment to others.  Within that life is also found seeds for multiplication.  Faithful disciples plant seeds to grow other faithful disciples.  The fruit of a disciple's life is ultimately found as others look at the full scope of that life.