Fruit is universally appealing. Our eyes behold its beauty, and our mouths enjoy its natural sweetness and varied flavors. Just as our mouths water for physical fruit, our souls long for the spiritual kind.
Spiritual fruitfulness is a metaphor used throughout Scripture to describe the visible outcome of a life that remains connected to Christ. To abide means to remain or to stay. The metaphor of fruitfulness works for both physical and spiritual fruit. Fruit doesn’t try to reproduce; instead, it remains connected to the tree or vine, and over time, fruit appears. In the same way, spiritual fruitfulness is not manufactured through effort but formed through our union with Christ. As believers stay connected to our Vine, Jesus Christ, fruit is the natural result.
The more we stay connected to Christ and walk in loving obedience, the more his fruit will be displayed through us. Do you want your life to reflect the beauty of Christ and the pleasantness of his fruit? You can grow in your spiritual fruitfulness by remaining and abiding in him. Here are 20 verses to start your study.
20 Bible Verses About Spiritual Fruitfulness
- Matthew 3:8 (ESV)
Bear fruit in keeping with repentance. - Matthew 7:16 (ESV)
You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? - Matthew 12:33 (ESV)
“Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit.” - Matthew 13:23 (ESV)
As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it. He indeed bears fruit and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.” - John 15:2 (ESV)
Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. - John 15:4–5 (ESV)
Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. - John 15:8 (ESV)
By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. - John 15:16 (ESV)
You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. - Romans 6:22 (ESV)
But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. - Romans 7:4 (ESV)
Likewise, my brothers, you also have died to the law through the body of Christ, so that you may belong to another, to him who has been raised from the dead, in order that we may bear fruit for God. - Galatians 5:22–23 (ESV)
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. - Galatians 6:7–8 (ESV)
Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. - Ephesians 5:8–9 (ESV)
For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of light is found in all that is good and right and true). - Philippians 1:11 (ESV)
Filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. - Philippians 2:15–16 (ESV)
That you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain. - Colossians 1:10 (ESV)
So as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. - 2 Timothy 2:21 (ESV)
Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for every good work. - James 2:14–17 (ESV)
What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. - James 3:17 (ESV)
But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere. - 2 Peter 1:5–9 (ESV)
For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins.
The Fruit of the Spirit
What flavor of fruit will you display as you remain in Christ? Galatians 5:22-23 reveals its varied goodness, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” Like a cluster of grapes attached to one branch: all nine virtues, or fruits, compose a unified whole, which are found in the believer’s life.
The delicious fruit that will be the result of the Spirit of God working through your life is that you’ll look, sound, think, and act more like Jesus, who is the epitome of the fruit of the Spirit.
I want an ever-increasing crop of spiritual fruitfulness growing in my life, do you? Let’s stay connected to our life-source, Jesus and his Word, and let him supply the fruit.
Cara
P.S. Did you know that my new book, The Pursuit of Holy Leisure, has an entire section devoted to fruitfulness? It might be my favorite section. You can pre-order the book now.
Related Posts