Focus on the Tree

Last night at our bible study, Kristi shared an insight that’s been ruminating in my mind all morning long. She said that Christians shouldn’t be consumed with “bearing fruit,” which is the evidence of salvation. If our focus is on the fruit in our lives we become works-oriented. Rather, we should keep our eyes on God and strive to build our relationship with Him first and foremost. This, in turn, will cause us to live in harmony with Him and the “fruit” will be an inevitable consequence of our walk with God. In other words, she said, “Focus on the Tree, not the fruit.”

Also, last night, the question was asked, “What exactly is fruit?” Too often Christians think of “fruit” as “good works,” e.g., helping the elderly neighbor, greeting someone at church, taking a meal to a sick family, wearing the right clothes, speaking the right words, etc. But this is not how scripture defines fruit. Gal. 5:22 describes the Fruit of the Spirit as “love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.” Fruit is more attitude than specific actions. But, of course, proper actions come from having proper attitudes.

Anyway, all of these thoughts have encouraged me to focus more on my relationship with God, and less on the externals, realizing that if I seek God first with a pure heart everything else will fall into place. It’s as simple as that.