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In its simplest form, growth involves transformation. It usually comes as a result of something changing, something evolving, something expanding, something forming. Growth sometimes takes place quickly and seemingly effortlessly, due to the rapid succession of processes; but at other times it is slow and painful.
Now I don’t know what it takes for a tree to grow a fruit, but I do know that if it is anything tantamount to what it takes for a human body to grow a child in the womb, then it is a long, unhurried process. A fruit is the elaborate by-product of months, and sometimes years of growth that must first take place in the mother tree. No tree can produce unless it has first gone through a season of personal growth and maturation, for if the tree is under-developed, then so will its by-products. Hence, fruits are an indication of the maturity and health of the source from which they sprung.
In spiritual terms, the same is true. In order for us to bear fruit, there is a process of growth that must first take place within us. There is some stretching, some crushing, some watering, and some shaping that must first occur. Every time we walk through a challenging life experience, we are exposed to an opportunity to grow in our inner man and by extension bear fruit.
To walk in love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control requires first walking in maturity. Simply put, if you are underdeveloped as a believer, you will produce underdeveloped versions of the above. It is in allowing ourselves to be nurtured in the soil of God’s hands and pruned by His Spirit that we become fertile and reproductive.
The beauty of growing in God is that we become more and more like Him at each stage of our development. Thus, the only science involved in bearing spiritual fruit is the determination to continually grow in our relationship with Christ. And should we allow ourselves to grow in Him, we will inevitably become more loving, more joyful, more peaceful, more forbearing, kinder, gentler, filled with goodness and self-control.
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article courtesy of TheStreamingFaith.com
Daily Devotional: “Growing In Fruitfulness” was originally published on praisecleveland.com
