Still bearing fruit

By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit. — John 15:8

Sometimes the harvest comes late. Sometimes you sow seeds of hope without really knowing it. Sometimes the fruit of your life comes in a way and time you would never expect.

My daughter Melissa had accepted God’s gift of salvation at a young age. But she never saw herself as some great Christian who could change lives. She was just a high school junior trying to cope with a job, school, and sports while balancing friendships — just a kid trying to live as God would want her to.

Yet, in 2002 when He welcomed her into heaven when she was just 17, her faith in Christ and her faithful life stood on their own. No advance warning. No time to make things right with others. No new opportunities to “bear much fruit” (John 15:8).

Melissa tried to live in a way that was pleasing to God — and her life is still bearing fruit. Just recently, I heard of a young person who trusted Jesus as Savior at a sports camp after a coach shared Melissa’s story.

All of us are writing a story with our lives — one that affects others now and in the future. Are we living to please God? We don’t know when the Lord will call us Home. Let’s live every day with an eye on the harvest.

                                      — Dave Branon

Only the truth that in life

we have spoken,

Only the seed that on earth

we have sown;

These shall pass onward

when we are forgotten,

Fruits of the harvest

and what we have done. —Bonar

READ: John 15:8-17

A fruitful harvest

requires a faithful life.

The Bible in one year:

• Haggai 1-2