The Fruit of A Disciple

John 15: 5,8,9,13

"I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing......By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples. As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love....Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends....."

We are studying the book of John at church and I am having a huge shift and conviction in my heart. For so long I have opperated thinking that it is all that "I do" or all that "is accomplished" for God, through me, that is the "fruit in my life"...proving that I am a disciple of Christ, but the fruit Jesus is talking about here is LOVE. WHAT?! YES. It is our love for one another...or love for our enemies...or love for the unloved, that shows the world that we are His disciples and who He is. And the laying down of one's life does not mean dying here....but living. It doesn't mean laying down your physical life but giving away your living life for others. And that is IMPOSSIBLE to do without Christ.


This has been so profound to me, I can't even write all about it here. That simple truth has absolutely been changing my whole thinking! This doesn't mean that God won't be doing things through us as believers, but it isn't the proof that we are believers. We are seeing preachers and believers left and right falling from the faith here in America. Why are we shocked? because they look like they have so much "fruit". Big churches, ect...ect...but that is not proof someone is a believer. Love is the fruit we should look for. There are movments taking place in China and India as believers are loving Christ and therefore loving one another and others. They are being persecuted and have no buildings, money, resources..ect. They are abiding in Christ and loving....their fruit is love and many are coming to Christ because of it!!

As I think about my children and loving them, modeling love for them and teaching them love, that no longer takes the backseat in the "moral training" category, but it takes front seat as the first and foremost important thing I want to teach my children.

As I have been faced with this great truth about our lives as believers and LOVE, I look to my mother for a real example. Me, my brother and my dad can confess this the most as she layed down her life for us for 32+ years. She loved us unconditionally. She always forgave, suffered long, was kind, did not envy nor parade herself, was never puffed up, never behaved rudely, did not seek her own, was not provoked, thought no evil, did not rejoice in sin, but always rejoiced in the truth, bore all things...all circumstances handed to her, believed all things, hoped all things and endured all things. Paul could have easily been writing about my mother in 1 Cor. 13.

My mother had many evidences in her life that she was a believer, but when she got diagnosed with Multiple Schlerosis and it took all ability to "do things", her love remained. She was no longer able to go overseas, lead a bible study, go to church, read her bible, be some "great" professional woman in this world, cook a meal or do laundry at the end of her life, but she loved. She was known for her love.


I pray that I can be like my mother...that in the end when I stand before the Lord, as my mother did, that he would say, as I know He did to her, "Well done, Kimberly, my servant." And it will be because I loved, not because of the things I did. And I loved because I abided in His love. I loved, because He first loved me. That I loved knowing that God demonstrated His Love toward me, in that while I was still a sinner, Christ died for me. (Rom.5:8) I pray that my children will be like their grandmother that they will raise up as a new generation that is known for their love.