Harvest time is a two-pronged season. It’s not always something we look forward to.
Think of it this way: In spring, we toss the seeds out, spray a little fertilizer, and irrigate a time or two. Crops simply spring out of the ground, shoots first, becoming full-blown plants within weeks or months.
Tree-borne fruit is even easier. Spray for insects and watch the blooms turn into cash right before our eyes. Red, orange, and yellow. How great is this? They grow, all by themselves.
Yet, all during summer, we have nothing to show for our investment. It’s all in expectation, not in our pockets. We walk down the rows of strawberries, touch the ripening apples, and our mouths water at the bananas on the trees. We can taste them before they are ripe. We anticipate because of the memory of what we’ve enjoyed before.
How about our spiritual fruit? New Christians are tender shoots emerging from the ground. We should anticipate what they will become, because we’ve experienced it before.
Acts 2:38 encourages us to plant ourselves in Christ:
“Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”
This is our flowering moment, the beginning of growth in our Lord. Our anticipation of the fruit we will one day display comes from Galatians 5:22-23:
“The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.”
There’s something else to consider about new Christians, and we find our example in the natural world. Harvesting our crops isn’t easy. It’s back-breaking work. To enjoy the goodness of apple pies, banana puddings, and strawberry shortcake, we must carefully remove our fruit from the plant, guard it jealously, and make sure not to bruise it. If we handle it roughly, it will become worthless to anyone.
The newly faithful will mature in Christ, if we are responsible to plant the seed, fertilize using the Word, and irrigate with the love of our Lord. One day, when they are fully ripe, they will display the fruit of the Spirit, and become a treat for the world to enjoy.
When we are planted in God’s Word and watered with the love of Christ, we will produce bountiful fruit for him.
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