The Rat (part 2) or Fruit-bearing (part 1)
The rat that was taken down (see last week’s post) had been doing more damage than I realized. Only three days after its demise, I began to see fruit in the garden again. Tiny cucumbers, little melons, dozens of the foot-long Asian green beans appeared where there had been none for several months! The rodent had been eating us out of house and home! (Or at least out of orchard and garden!)
This makes me wonder: Have the rats in my heart been devouring the fruit I am intended to bear? What kind of fruit is that anyway? I am not a peach tree or a grapevine; I know what kind of fruit to expect from those things. What kind of fruit can I expect from me?
Jesus talks about fruit in His first big talk.* He tells His audience that they shouldn’t expect to get grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles. In other words, the fruit tells us what kind of plant it is. Because I am a follower of Jesus, I can expect my life to produce juicy “Jesus” fruit, not thorny twigs. So what do I do when I discover that some thorns are growing where something succulent should be, or that some rats have had their way in my life? (If only I could get the rats to eat the thorns…)
The ones I have continued to hunt seem to be related: the sneaky rats of silently diminishing the pain of others (Is it that bad?), thinking less of those with food preferences (Why can’t they just be thankful? Like me?), and thinking more of me on account of my willingness to sacrifice (Martyrdom, anyone?). When I see how many times I just wrote I or me, the fact that I have any friends at all amazes me!! I smell the rat of self-focus! P.U.!
I will keep bringing the rats to Jesus, to the cross where my forgiveness has already been purchased at such a high cost! I keep asking the Holy Spirit to empower my steps in the opposite direction, and I keep asking Papa-God for a way to demonstrate the changes He is making in me.
*Matthew 7:16
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