Squeeze my Fruit , Please

I ate a terrible orange today. I remember picking it in the grocery store because it has looked so nice. It had a bright orange peel, and it was soft, which I thought was a promise of juiciness inside. Yet when I peeled it this morning I was so disappointed. The orange was dry and tasteless. Each section only offered the resemblance of the orange I'd hoped it to be. What a waste. What a disappointment. I was really in the mood for a good orange.

As God's child, my fruit should be in abundance, and it should be a wonderful
blessing to the recipient (Did you realize over 1/2 or the fruits of the spirit relate to our relationship with others?) Yet I know when I'm honest with myself, sometimes my fruit is as disappointing as my orange this morning; - it's dry and brings no joy.

In Matthew 21, Jesus came along a fig tree that was full of leaves. On a fig tree, leaves are a sign that it is bearing good fruit. Good news for a hungry traveler like Jesus. However when He went to pick a fig…nothing! You know the rest, he curses the fig tree that claimed to be bearing fruit and it withers and dies the next day.
Jesus said that the world would know his followers by the fruit we bear.

"Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep, but are really wolves that will tear you apart. You can detect them by the way they act, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit. You don't pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles. A healthy tree produces good fruit, and an unhealthy tree produces bad fruit. A good tree can't produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can't produce good fruit. So every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown in to the fire. Yes, the way to identify a tree or a person is by the kind of fruit that is produced." Matt 7:15-20

When we are Christians, we should be not simply "bear leaves",-a bracelet, a bumper-sticker, a fancy leather bound bible,-but we should also bear the fruit of his spirit: Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

Now I have to ask myself,-What is my fruit like lately? Does it look nice on the outside, only to deliver disappointment? Am I like that orange- making promises with my outward signs I can't keep? I wonder if I have seen a need and allowed it to go unmet? Has God prompted me to move and yet I disobeyed because of fear, or worse yet, a feeling of being inconvenienced? Has someone seen me at church expecting something great, only to be disappointed when they know me better?

Help me Lord to be softened by your truth. Help me to act courageously for you. Help me to bear your fruit so others can see that I'm a Christian, - not just in words but in action and truth. Please God don't ever let me be like the fig tree that claims to be ripe with figs but can't deliver.