Some Great Tips For Being More Fruitful
Would you like your life and work to be more fruitful? There’s a lot of talk about being more productive, but about a more fruitful life?
If you majored in economics like I did, productivity is about…
…how much output can be produced with a given set of inputs. Productivity increases when…
- Greater output is produced with the same inputs
- The same output is produced with less
In today’s culture, productivity is getting a whole lot done in a minimal amount of time or focused effort that leads to maximum results. My effort, my results.
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with being productive, but lately I’ve been leaning into the idea of focusing on fruitfulness rather than productivity.
Being Fruitful
What does it mean to be fruitful? There are a few different ways to look at it. Doing life (and work) in a “fruitful” way means that you are living and working in a way that…
- Makes a positive difference in the lives of those around you.
- Contributes to making an eternal or Kingdom difference.
- Yields a harvest of fruit or leads to results that are significant – exponentially beyond the seeds you planted.
- Equips and develops others.
- Demonstrates excellent character and skill in relating to others.
After creating Adam and Eve in Genesis 1:28 God told them to “be fruitful and multiply” so being fruitful also means to reproduce biologically and spiritually.
When the Holy Spirit is at work in a believer, they will exhibit “fruitful” character or what is referred to as the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
Another Way of Being Fruitful
Let’s take a deeper dive into the kind fruitfulness that takes place when your life is connected to Jesus. In John 15 Jesus tells us that He’s the grapevine. His Father is the gardener. He goes on to say…
Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me. “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing. John 15:4-5 (NLT) (Emphasis is mine.)
According to Jesus, being fruitful is only possible when we are truly connected to Jesus and living from Him.
When you see a vine loaded with plump and delicious looking grapes, you know that the branches are fully connected to the vine and that the vine is fully rooted in the ground.
We are to be connected to the vine, to Jesus, and we are to be rooted in Him.
Let your roots grow down into Him, and let your lives be built on Him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness. Colossians 2:7 (NLT)
When you picture a grape vine loaded with grapes there’s no straining or effort on the part of the vine, the branches are simply doing their part – remaining attached to the vine! The branches aren’t trying to do the vine’s job, the job of the roots, or striving to create fruit. It’s simply “being” a vine.
We Often Get It Backwards!
Rather than plugging into Jesus and abiding in and trusting Him we often resort to frenzied activity to accomplish certain goals or to get certain results. In fact, sometimes in the hustle we actually “unplug” from Jesus and skip spending time with Him because we don’t believe that we have enough time in our lives for connecting with Him.
We even convince ourselves that we will connect with Jesus on the fly, but in reality, we rarely do. Before long, our efforts are our own, because we are no longer plugged into the source.
If we continue down this path, Jesus isn’t the only relationship we neglect. Next, we neglect the people who are closest to us – the ones we claim to treasure the most. Not to mention that caring for ourselves and stewarding well the life God’s given us also gets crowded out. Before long we begin skipping meals, eating junk food on the fly, getting less and less sleep, and exercising gets crowded out as we put more effort into achieving.
On the flip side, the fruitful life is not about kicking back and waiting for God to do His thing, or perhaps more accurately, the thing we want Him to do.
The Fruitful Way
What does it look like to focus on living and working in a fruitful way?
The Fruitful Person Knows that Jesus is Their Source.
He is the One who entrusted them uniquely with gifts, talents, and abilities and that when they are relying on God, He is able to do some wildly amazing things through them.
Because they know how important it is to remain connected to Him, they guard their time with God and make it a priority. They don’t view that time as something to simply check off a list of to dos, but rather a necessity that they aren’t able to function without. They know they are dependent on God.
The Fruitful Person Abides in Christ.
The connection to Christ is the priority, the focus, rather than the fruit or the “results.”
The Fruitful Person Looks to God for Wisdom.
Often that wisdom shows up when lingering in His presence. Other times, God brings just the right bit of information or an idea your way. God uses the people in our lives to speak truth and other times complete strangers! There are endless ways He offers wisdom, direction, and inspiration that ultimately save all kinds of time!
The Fruitful Person Diligently Does Their Part.
They consistently put effort into the key areas that God directs them to and they trust God with the outcome. From a human perspective, the areas God deems worthy of our attention may not always make logical sense, but yet they yield fruit when we are faithful.
Being diligent may mean saying no to some good opportunities, maintaining healthy boundaries, experimenting, and experiencing some failures too! It’s most likely going to require you to grow, sometimes endure a little pruning, and stretch outside your comfort zone too.
The Fruitful Person Trusts God Completely.
They don’t jump in and try to help God in order to get the results they are after. And they don’t give up. That doesn’t mean they don’t alter their strategy or make adjustments to their plans or methods – they do. They seek God for help in refining their approach, but they resist the urge to force fruit to happen.
Because they fully trust God, they are able to have a regular rhythm of rest, they are able to keep work confined to specific hours, and they don’t take on what would exceed their limits.
They Fruitful Person Lives Loved!
Being loved truly transforms a person! It changes our approach to everything. If don’t believe me, think back to when you first fell in love and you were floating on cloud nine. Or observe someone who has just fallen in love.
One of the many reasons it is essential to connect and reflect on God’s love for you daily is that over time feelings fade. You have to choose intentionally live loved. It’s also tough to truly spend time in God’s presence and not come away feeling loved even when He’s correcting us!
The Fruitful Person has Character.
The evidence that Holy Spirit is alive and well in a Christian is the fruit of the Spirit – the love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control that they exude. Each of those character traits naturally has a positive impact on your life and work!
The Fruitful Person Is Clear on Their Identity.
They know they are a branch. Their focus is simply on being the branch. They aren’t longing or trying to be something other than a branch doing its branch thing: being a conduit for fruit.
When we have an “identity crisis” and forget our “identity is in Christ” we resort to…
- Comparing and/or trying to be more like someone else.
- People pleasing – trying to be what you think others think you should be.
- Having the right stuff – material markers that we think will make us valuable.
- Copying what everyone else is doing rather than trusting God’s attempts at directing you.
- Thinking our worth is tied to what we do rather than who we belong to causing us to do more, more, and more or to perform more to appear better.
- Striving – thinking success will make us more worthy.
And that’s just a short list!
The Fruitful Person Bears Fruit!
Not just the “fruit of the Spirit” kind of fruit – although that’s pretty amazing fruit, but also a life where your small efforts are transformed into so much more! Perhaps a fruitful life is ultimately the key to a more productive life!
What changes would lead to greater fruitfulness in your life and work?
Neven Krcmarek / Unsplash
