Fruitfulness

Just for the fun of it, I went out onto our large patio yesterday afternoon to measure the distance from the top of our cherry tomato bush to the top of the fence it is growing against.  The fence is a little over seven feet tall and the bush is less than 10 inches below the horizontal board that frames it.  This is amazing to me as I have grown tomatoes in our backyard gardens for years and have never had one get this tall!  It is also loaded with little tomatoes!  Its prolific growth and fruitfulness reminds me of Colossians 1:5-6 where it states that ‘the good news which is present to you (or better translated “in you” – as we saw in yesterday’s post…), as also in all the world, and is bearing fruit…” (Young’s literal translation)

The God’s Word translation says that the “Good News… is producing results” while the Contemporary English Version declares that “The good news is spreading all over the world with great success.”  Our cherry tomato is a very visible example of the fruitfulness of God’s Word!  It is not only growing upward, but is also spreading out a couple of feet or more in either direction from the confines of the cage that supports the vines.  It has gotten so large that I am going to have to move the Early Girl patio tomato bush that now sits in the shade of its ever increasing branches!

Both Robert’s Word Pictures and Vincent’s Word Studies talk about the importance of the sentence structure in this verse.  They explain how the more accurate/literal translation of this verse join the “is” with the participle “bearing fruit” which “emphasizes the continuous fruitfulness of the Gospel” while “the middle voice of the verb… marks the fruitfulness of the Gospel by its own inherent power.” (VWS)

That last thought makes me think about the principles of the Internal Combustion Engine that runs by itself once initially started.  All it basically needs is a continual source of fuel to keep it running, like my tomato needs regular watering and fertilization!

I’m not too sure that all of us realize the inherent power in the Word of God!  Our job is simply to share it with others, water it regularly (by loving encouragement, loving actions and gentle teaching) and then watch (or expect) the Word to work itself in the lives of the listeners! 

My little potted patio garden began to produce like crazy last month and then suddenly stopped.  I didn’t panic but understood that it just needed a little more loving attention from the gardener!  So I went out and worked the soil around the plants, pulled a few weeds, and fertilized the plants and now they are loaded with fruit once more!  In fact, I skipped the vegetable aisles when I went shopping at Safeway yesterday as I knew my fridge would soon be filled with fresh tomatoes and zucchini!

Once again, that’s just like the Gospel of God’s Word growing and continuously producing fruit in the lives of those with whom it is shared and followed.  Remember though, it has to be planted and tended to in order for it to become fruitful, but a little work on our behalf goes a LONG way when the Word works with its inherent power in the garden of the lives of those who hear it!  So… don’t be afraid to get your hands a little dirty – go out there and plant and watch the Word work its miracles!  Have a good day.  Stay in tune to His Word, and keep asking yourself… “What am I expecting today?”