Fruit

One of the most used sayings of Jesus was to "bear fruit." This was a metaphor for living your life in a way that would honor God. Examples of "fruit" are love, joy peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness and self control (Galations 5).

But why did Jesus choose "fruit?" Why not flowers? Why not candy? Why not a big juicy steak or a tasty veggie burger (for my wife)? What is so special about fruit?

Let's do a quick review from elementary science class. Fruit is very tasty. Trees make fruit tasty so that animals eat it. Why do they want the animals to eat the fruit? The answer is that inside the fruit is a seed (sometimes seedS). The animals then "transport" the seeds to another location and then more trees grow.

So with our science lesson in mind, Jesus words to "bear fruit" take on a whole new meaning. We are to "bear fruit" so that others can identify us as Christians (Matthew 7:15-20). Our "fruit" is sweet (how sweet is love, joy and kindness!). Our goal is that people will see our fruit, experience our fruit, and in turn desire to accept Jesus and bear fruit themselves.

So, bear fruit today remembering that in our fruit are the seeds that may grow into new Christians.

The answer is...

Hello again. I'm back after spending a week with the Jr. Highers. Here is the answer to the question I posed two weeks ago.

Ephesians 3:17-19 says, "I pray that you...may...grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge."

(quick recap- there are several different Greek words which are translated knowledge. One word seems to be factual in nature one seems to be a deeper relational meaning)

The question is which "knowledge" is Ephesians 3:19 using?

(Thanks for taking a guess Nichole. I thought the same thing.)

A few weeks ago I was having fun going through and guessing which "knowledge" was used in different verses. I was getting pretty good at it when I came upon this verse. I confidently guessed "factual" knowledge. I was disappointed and confused when I looked and I was wrong.

This verse says that the love of Christ goes beyond, not "factual" knowledge, but "relational" knowledge. I was disappointed because my understanding had failed.

But, my disappointment slowly faded away when I began to realize what it was saying. Even in our deepest, most intimate relationship with Christ...even in that knowledge of him...his love for us is greater still...greater than we can imagine. OH how great is our God!

And so now "I pray that you...may...grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge."

Two Week Post

This one is going to have to last for about two weeks, so I'm going to make it a little bit deeper.

The New Testament was originally written in Greek. When it is translated to English sometimes you loose some things (I am NOT saying that the meaning or content is changed...you just miss some subtle things).

I don't know Greek, but by using some resources you can see some cool things. I used olivetree.com and a Strong's Concordance to do this.

Here we go:

There are two Greek words which are both translated "knowledge" in the NIV. One word indicates knowing facts (I know my wife's name) and one word indicated having a relational knowledge (I know how to make my wife smile).

Lets look at some verses from 2 Peter 1:2-8 (I'll highlight "knowledge" to show which Greek word is used).


Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.
His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Do you see that once we have knowledge of God he wants us to also add knowledge(relationship). There is such a big difference between knowledge of a person and knowledge (relationship) with a person. A relationship is so much deeper.

Congratulations if you have made it this far. Don't give up now...this is the cool part:

Ephesians 3:17-19 says, "I pray that you...may...grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge."

It says that the love of Christ is HUGE. It is so big that it surpasses knowledge. I'd like everyone who reads to take a stab at which knowledge it is talking about.

I'll be back on July 18