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It’s the middle of December already! And typically this is the time of year where we reflect on the goals we had for the year. We think about where we did well and where we felt we could have done better. We look back on our year based on how well or not well we performed. We beat ourselves up for not ticking off certain items of our list. We get hard on ourselves for not advancing as much as we had hoped.
But what if we stopped looking back on the year solely on the basis of performance metrics but instead through the lens of the fruit we brought forth.
In Matthew 7:20, Jesus tells us how we will be able to identify false prophets by the fruit they produced. Similarly in Luke 6:44, it mentions how every tree is known by its own fruit. The tree here represents a person, we are basically like trees (See Psalm 1:3).
So, don’t these all speak to the weight that bearing fruit has on determining how well or not well someone is doing? Someone could have all the money in the world, all the fame in the world and could have achieved everything they wanted on their list but could still not be seen as bearing good fruit.
What is good fruit?
What is this good fruit?
Galatians 5:22-23 (NLT) gives us the answer.
But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!
The true way to measure your year
When we look back on the year, our focus should be on the kind of fruit we brought forth.
What fruit did we do well in, which fruit did we not do well in?
Let the measure of our year be how much or how little good fruit we displayed in a particular area.
The things we do are just a by-product of the fruit we are bearing or most importantly, the fruit that God wants us to focus on the most in the year.
So, could it be that the reason why some of the things you had on your to-do list didn’t end up getting done is because God wanted a different type of fruit to be the focus for this year, and the thing you had your eyes on wasn’t going to be the thing that He wanted to use to do it?
So cheer up if you haven’t done absolutely everything on your to-do list for 2023. It is okay if you have not achieved every single goal you originally set out to reach this year. Maybe this year was not the year for it. Or maybe it was not achieved because of a particular area of fruit that you may need a bit more work in. So instead, look at the fruit. Focus on the fruit.
Were you more patient? Did you show genuine love to yourself and others? Could you have been more faithful in your works? Which fruit do you believe that God is drawing your attention to for the upcoming year?
Assess your year through the lens of the fruit you brought forth and allow God to lead you in what fruit needs to be the focus for next year.
Where in your life do you need to create space for the Holy Spirit to bear fruit for next year?
This may not be evident straight away, sometimes it comes as we take steps and experience some things, and that’s okay. But still allow God to lead you in the things you need to do next year and He’ll direct you in where you need to go and what you need to do along the way.
Remember, it is the Holy Spirit within us that enables us to produce this good fruit the more we abide in Him. The more we give Him space to work in our lives especially in a particular area, the more we will be able to bear this fruit. It is not achieved through our own work but His work in us when we allow Him.
The Round-up
So, praise God for the fruit you brought forth this year by His grace. Thank Him for the opportunity to grow and bear more fruit as He continues to do the work in you. It is through this that you become all of who He created you to be.
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Until the next post,
