When does the apple ripen?

Since Grace was very young, we have tried to make an annual trip to the orchard to pick apples.  My favorite orchard was somewhere outside of Iowa City, Iowa though the name escapes me.  There were row upon row of well groomed trees, a knowledgeable old man with a tractor, and an ancient German shorthair named Hawkeye.  One of the first lessons learned from picking apples is that there are dozens of varieties of apples at each orchard with different tastes and textures.  What you also learn is that the fruits ripen at different times and that different trees yield different amounts of fruit.  Some trees bear fruit in August whereas others wait until October.  Some trees bear bushels of fruit, some not as much.  Those who live with the trees year after year, like the old tractor driver, also know that in some seasons, some trees just don't bear as much fruit.

Apple trees provide important lessons for us as Christians.  Many of us believe that the moment we are saved, we will be suddenly and radically transformed.  In a sense we are, but perhaps not in the way we think.  Our fruit bearing may not be as quick or abundant as we would hope.  We want bushels of fruit from season one until we come to glory.  But what does the parable of the sower say?

As it is described in Luke, it says "As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience."  Patience can also be translated perseverance.  Our fruit takes time to grow.  In fact, often when it springs up quickly, it burns out (Luke 8:13).

As Mark describes the parable, he reminds us that  "other seeds fell into good soil and produced grain, growing up and increasing and yielding thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold" (Mark 4:8). In other words, not every tree bears fruit in the same measure.  We must be careful when we look at the fruit of others, or ourselves, assuming we are not bearing enough.

We have a patient vinedresser who loves us and is patient with us.  If we abide in Him (John 15), at the proper time he will cause the right amount of fruit to grow on each tree.

Amongst Thorns

Luke 8: 5-8 “A sower went out to sow his seed. And as he sowed, some fell along the path and was trampled underfoot, and the birds of the air devoured it. And some fell on the rock, and as it grew up, it withered away, because it had no moisture. And some fell among thorns, and the thorns grew up with it and choked it. And some fell into good soil and grew and yielded a hundredfold.”

In the Spring, at the urging of my daughter and perhaps out of a desire to connect with my agricultural roots, I planted a few tomato and pepper plants. Apart from a cursory hoeing, I made no effort to prepare the soil. I simply dug a hole and dropped them in. I had good intentions of tending to the plants, anticipating their bounty, but I ignored them. You can see what happened; they grew up among the weeds. The largest tomato plant has a single fruit, which is barely appreciable amidst the overgrowth. I am no longer able to discern the pepper plants.

In Crazy Love, Francis Chan exhorts "My caution to you is this: Do not assume you are good soil. I think most American churchgoers are the soil that chokes the seed because of all the thorns. Thorns are anything that distracts us from God. When we want God and a bunch of other stuff, then that means we have thorns in our soil. A relationship with God simply cannot grow when money, sins, activities, favorite sports teams, addictions, or commitments pile on top of it" (p. 66).

Thorny soil is not irreparable. When the thorns are removed, it becomes good soil once again, a place for seed to flourish. The soil cannot rid itself of weeds, however. It is only the Gardener who can root out the thorns, improving the soil for the seed to grow. We need to pray that God would reveal the weeds in our lives and then ask Him to remove them far from us, so that the Word of God may flourish. Further, we need to be attentive (I Peter 5:8), persevering in our prayers, as weeds have a way of quickly re-populating untended soil.

There is still hope for my tomatoes. If I attend to them, removing the weeds, improving the soil, and nurturing what is left, they have a chance to grow and bear much fruit. If I continue to neglect them, however, they will fade away and will be worthless. The same is true of my life.

Matthew 3:10-"Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire."