"BY THEIR FRUITS YOU WILL KNOW THEM"

From John Ross Thompson
November 17, 2006


In this harvest and Thanksgiving season, my thoughts are on the abundance of God's blessings. As the son of a farmer, I am well aware of the earth's bounty. As a pastor, I am well aware of the fruit that comes from the committed lives of so many Christians I have known. I give thanks for all that blesses us, both a food harvest and a church of people who model Christ-like love to the world.

Any farmer whose crops did not produce would soon be out of business. The Scriptures talk about bringing the "first fruits" of the harvest to God's temple as a thank offering for all that we have. These "first fruits" are the best that we have, often the first produce of the harvest season. In another sense, "first fruits" are the tithe of our income given to the church before we pay our bills, or the giving of our best talent or our primary passion to the needs of others.

With the mid-term elections past, I hope that our attention will not be on what government leaders say, but on what they do. All the promises and rhetoric of electioneering may get a person elected to office, but their role in public service demands that they produce "fruit". It is proper to focus on any leader's accomplishments, and make them accountable to those who elected them. With the major change of direction from this year's election, the people of our country seem to be saying, "Enough talk. Let's try others who may produce results."

I am very pleased with the "fruit" I see in this church. Leaders are taking initiative and following their God-given passion in leading our church. Newer persons are finding their roles in our church family. There is a good preliminary response to our financial campaign, with faithful members promising steady giving for next year, and quite a number of persons making financial pledges who had not done so last year. We still need more giving to meet our basic operating budget for next year, but we are heartened by the response so far.

What we often call "stewardship" shows itself in the fruit of our lives.

Your "fruit" may be the passion that God has placed on your heart. Your role may be to share that with others, and to find a way that you can make that passion come alive in our church. It may be for you to say "no" to some things you are doing grudgingly, so that you can focus on what is your true calling. For some of us, it may be making a major decision about the rest of our lives, in response to God's call.

I encourage you in this Thanksgiving season to write notes to those who have produced "fruit" for which you are grateful. Some of them do not know how much you see the grace of God working through them. I also ask you to thank God for the "fruit" in your life, both the fruit you already see and the fruit that is coming.

Happy Thanksgiving!