Cultivating Fruit on the Vine - Part 3

Several years ago, I planted a Trumpet Vine in my yard.  I had admired the beauty of the foliage and flowers in other people's yards and along the roadside.  When we made some landscaping changes, the opportunity came to plant one in my garden.  

The vine was only 12-15 inches in length when I purchased it.  With the soil cultivated, the vine was planted and fertilizer added...and we waited...and waited...and waited!  It took a few years to become well established, but once the flowers began to form...WOW!!!  


Multiple flower clusters grew, and when the time was just right, exquisite orange flowers bursted forth!  These beautiful orange clusters were pleasing to the eye! 

They attract Hummingbirds... what a sight to see!

  

As the vine grew, it needed support, so we added a small trellis.  The vine grew to be more hearty, so a stronger trellis was necessary. 

Then seed pods appeared! 

I never counted the years, but looking back, this is what I observed: the first season of growth was the branches, then the flowers appeared, the whole plant grew in stature and breadth, and is now multiplying all over my yard!  Every year I have to remove new vines that are establishing themselves at various locations in my gardens!

This vine serves as another reminder me of Jesus' concept of multiplication in making disciples, who make disciples.  First the vine and the branches must get established and grow to a certain level of maturity before producing the intended fruit or flower.  Once the fruit or flower appear, multiplication is bound to happen as a ripened faith starts dropping seeds - - multiplying everywhere!  

The children of God have been given a gift unlike any other - - the precious gift of faith!  As it grows, it produces sweet fruit and wonderfully fragrant flowers - - lives that are holy, touching the lives of other people with the fruit that the Spirit produces in us (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness).

Could the fruit be the holy impact that we make
on other people's lives - - like Spiritual Nutrition?

 ...preparing the human heart to receive the seed of faith?
...the Gospel.  

Could it be that by depositing the fruit of the Spirit
in other people's lives, they begin to desire
the "greater gifts" ...God's love?  

Satan's temptation in the garden created a desire for Adam and Eve to be like God, knowing good and evil.  Satan made deposits of doubt, introducing the thought that somehow God was holding out on them and prohibiting them from receiving the all the fullness possible...there was something more to be possessed in knowledge.  

Paul says there is no law against God's spiritual fruit, his love and the things that produces.  As we make deposits of God's Love in people's lives, it seems to invoke a restored desire for these things of God.  Not every deposit results in faith, however I believe it always cultivates the soil of the human heart for the next deposit.

When the seed of God's love finally takes root, it can then grow and mature, becoming ready to make a holy impact in the lives of others. This passage illustrates 4 generations of impact, as Paul speaks to Timothy:

"And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others."  2 TIMOTHY 2:2

Paul is the first generation, Timothy is the second, reliable men are the third, and others are the fourth.  

One life, lived with God's holy purpose,
can make a tremendous impact!