WAYFINDING Part 5

Part 5: Growing Towards Fruitfulness 

By Jill Smith

 One of the questions many people carry throughout life is:

“What difference am I making?”

It is a good question. Human beings are created with a longing to contribute, to create, to love, to serve and to participate in something beyond ourselves. Yet somewhere along the way, we can begin to confuse fruitfulness with productivity. We measure our lives by what we accomplish, how much we do, how many people need us, or how visible our contribution appears to be.

But Jesus offers a different picture. He does not describe the life of faith as a life of constant striving. He describes it as a life of abiding. “I am the vine; you are the branches,” He says. “If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit.” The branch does not produce fruit by effort alone. It bears fruit because it is connected to the source of life.

This is one of the great invitations of spiritual maturity: learning not only how to do things for God, but how to live deeply rooted in God. 

Fruitfulness is not simply about what we produce. It is about what our lives become.

I’ve already noted that throughout Scripture, God forms people over time so that their lives can bear fruit in the right season. Joseph’s years of preparation enabled him to carry responsibility with wisdom. Moses’ wilderness years shaped him into a leader who could carry the weight of guiding a nation. David’s hidden years formed the heart that later wrote songs of worship and led with compassion. The fruit came from a life being formed.

This is why seasons of waiting, pruning and hiddenness are not necessarily wasted seasons. They are often where roots deepen, and Jesus Himself lived this pattern. For thirty years, He lived an ordinary life in Nazareth before His public ministry began. Most of His earthly life was not spent preaching, healing or gathering crowds. It was spent growing, working, listening and abiding in the Father’s purposes.

Perhaps this challenges some of our assumptions about what makes a life significant. God is not only interested in what we do. He is interested in who we are becoming. This also means that fruitfulness requires discernment. A tree does not produce every kind of fruit. An apple tree does not apologise for not producing oranges. And part of becoming fruitful is discovering what God has uniquely entrusted to us, then faithfully tending that.

This requires knowing our limits. Limits are not failures. They are part of God’s design. The boundary of a garden does not restrict the garden; it creates the space where something can grow. Our limitations, our particular gifts, our responsibilities and our season of life all help define where we are called to invest ourselves. Every yes contains many noes. To say yes to one calling means recognising that we cannot give ourselves fully to everything else.

This is not loss. It is stewardship. Jesus Himself lived with clear boundaries. He did not respond to every demand placed upon Him. He withdrew to pray. He left some places where people wanted Him to stay. He moved according to the Father’s timing rather than the expectations of others.

Faithfulness is not doing everything possible but becoming attentive to what God is asking of us now. This becomes increasingly important as we move through life. In younger years, fruitfulness may be expressed through building, creating, leading and serving. In other seasons, fruitfulness may look like mentoring, encouraging, creating space for others, offering wisdom, praying faithfully, or simply becoming a person whose presence brings life. The expression changes. The calling remains: follow Jesus, grow like Jesus.

Perhaps one of the great tasks of maturity is learning to ask:

“What fruit is this season asking me to bear?” Not: “What did I used to be able to do?”

Not: “What are others doing?” Or: “How can I prove my value?”

But: “Lord, what have You entrusted to me now?”

The answer may surprise us. Sometimes the fruit God is growing is visible and other times it is hidden. Sometimes it is a transformed character, other times a relationship repaired. Sometimes it is a word of encouragement given at exactly the right moment. Other times it is simply becoming a person who carries the presence and love of Christ into the lives of others. Sometimes we need to recognise the difference between being busy and being fruitful, between being needed and being faithful, between achieving and abiding.

The invitation of Jesus remains: Remain in Me. Receive from Me. Allow Me to form you. And in the right season, fruitfulness with come.

Taking Your Bearings

·      Where have I been measuring my value—by fruitfulness or by productivity?

·      What has God entrusted to me in this season?

·      What limits or boundaries might be timely invitations to faithful stewardship?

·      What fruit might God be growing in me that is different from what I expected?

·      What does abiding in Christ look like for me right now?