Rachel Whisman

I was discussing the parable of the sower in Luke 8:1-15 with a friend of mine. To make it tangible and visual, I remembered what a pastor once did. On a piece of paper, I drew four squares and, in each box, drew a little drawing to reflect each seed and its explanation from the parable. At the end, I asked her where she saw herself. Joyfully, she pointed to the last box. She added to it and drew her version of herself as a little plant sprouting little leaves. Luke 8:15 states that these are those “in good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.” She remarked how she was just a baby plant. I countered with “Fruit is fruit. What the Lord has produced in you is just as precious as anyone else.” 

Jesus tells us in the Gospel of John, the source of our fruit is himself, “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5). There is temptation lurking around every corner to play the comparison game and question ourselves, “Is what I am doing good enough? Subconsciously, we might analyze and think, “They seem to be doing more than I am.” We compare our fruit to others, thinking it’s different. In reality, they are all the same. We are not a bunch of individual plants, but one that is being grafted together (Romans 11:17-18). Just as we are not isolated parts of a body, we are all part of the body of Christ, with Christ as our head. All of our fruit is not “mine, mine, mine” but ours to encourage and glorify the Lord with. 

Yes, the fruit will be expressed differently as “Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Gal. 5:22). However, we are all producing fruit from the same source, which is Christ. There is no variation in that. He causes growth in us for the same reason, his glory and exaltation, and our good. Our output is meant to point back at the one who created the seed in the first place and caused the growth. Therefore, when we see other people’s fruit, we praise Christ alongside them and encourage them because we are one with them. When we see them struggling, we tend to their needs (Galatians 6:2). All fruit that he produces is good because of the one who brought it to fruition. This in itself is a display of his heart and power over the death of a seed to cause it to bear fruit and become something that once was nothing.