Have you ever seen a branch lying on the ground underneath a tree and thought, “That branch needs to try harder”? Probably not. Once the branch is disconnected from the tree, everybody knows what is going to happen. It may still look alive for a while. There may even be leaves hanging from it. But something has changed. It’s disconnected from its source.

Jesus uses that simple picture in John 15 to teach us something incredibly important about spiritual growth. He doesn’t tell the branch to try harder , He tells the branch to stay connected .

Throughout this series we’ve talked about love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. And it would be easy to turn that list into nine areas where we need to work harder. Try harder to be patient or have more joy etc, but Jesus gives us a different starting point: Remain in me!

This is so important: Fruit is the result of connection! A branch doesn’t grit its teeth and produce an apple. Life flows into the branch from its source, and eventually what is happening inside becomes visible outside. The same thing happens spiritually. The Holy Spirit is forming the character of Jesus in us. That’s why Philippians 2 says: “God is working in you.” God starts IN and works OUT . Our responsibility isn’t to manufacture the fruit, our responsibility is to create the conditions where the Holy Spirit can continue His work. We stay connected by spending time in God’s Word, prayer, worship, stay planted in the House of God. Listen when the Holy Spirit corrects us, and obey when He leads us. Everything points back to Jesus

Then slowly, sometimes almost imperceptibly, something begins changing and you discover you don’t react the way you used to. You forgive faster. You trust more. You respond more gently. You have peace in a place where you once would have panicked. That’s fruit! And the encouraging part is you don’t have to make the fruit grow, you have to stay connected to the One who produces it.