Good Fruit

“Every good tree bears good fruit, and a rotten tree bears bad fruit.” Matthew 7:17

What fruit am I bearing? Do I bear good fruit? If I don’t, Jesus says “I will be cut down and thrown into the fire”! 

I like reading about the saints, and also ordinary men and women who are known for their good fruit because then I am prodded to do the same. Sometimes in the busyness of life, we forget to serve others, to be generous, to be what God wants us to be. 

Almost all of us know Anne Frank from the diary she wrote, “The Diary of a Young Girl” which was published after she died in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp at age 15.

We can say Anne Frank is the fruit of her father, Otto Frank, the only one in their family to survive the brutal Nazi camps. After Anne’s books were published, many young men and women wrote Otto. He answered each and every one of those letters until he was too old to do it.

When Cara Wilson visited Otto after years of correspondence, she saw in his little study wall-to-wall notebooks bursting with letters. And Otto showed her a notebook filled with HER letters, starting from when she was 12 years old. Otto lost his family but he gained many sons and daughters through the years. There’s John Neiman who became a priest, Sumi from Japan, who signed herself, “Your daughter, Sumi”. Otto advised and encouraged them all to be brave, strong and hopeful like his daughter Anne. 

It does not matter if we are old or young, rich or poor, we can always bear good fruit for the Lord! I heard the story of a quadriplegic young girl. She would watch the news and every time she felt someone needed encouragement because of some disaster or accident, she would hold a stick in her mouth and type out a message on her computer to send out. She has helped many people in this way, and has found meaning in her situation. 

It is said that the Christian is the world’s Bible. We are ambassadors for Christ. We are His hands and feet here on earth. May the Lord enable us to exhibit the fruit of His Holy Spirit.