WATCH OUT FOR WORMS!

"Dear friends, you are like visitors and strangers in this world...

People who do not believe are living all around you. 

They might say that you are doing wrong. 

So live good lives.  Then they will see the good things you do,

and they will give glory to God on the day when Christ comes again."
I Peter 2:11 - 12 

I've always had a desire to be fruitful for God.  Being fruitful for God isn't something you do all by yourself, free of outside interference.  Being fruitful for God is your every day walk that is full of ups and downs.  In one way, your fruitfulness is every one's business.

Think about where orchards and vineyards grow.....they grow outside!  Fruit needs access to the sun, the rain, and plenty of fresh air.  As a christian, your growing your fruit out in the open, too  ----  where people can see.  Your fruit is your life....the way you live your life.  God's kind of fruit always has to do with people because He cares more about them than anything else.  He loves His children, and He wants us to love them by serving them.  As you work on figuring out how He wants you to bear fruit, this will be your first clue:  It will probably have something to do with helping others.  -----  Helping others.....serving others.....befriending the unfriendly......loving the difficult.....serving others. 

But what if a worm gets loose in your orchard?  You have done something wrong...no one is perfect.  God did not make us to be perfect.....just willing.  But, people are watching all the time.  If you call yourself a Christian, people will expect you to act and behave in a way they can admire. 

Peter wrote that we should watch how we behave because there are people around us all the time who don't know much about God.  They do know that God's people supposedly do the right thing.  But if they see us behave poorly, they receive the wrong message.  It may look like our faith doesn't make any difference in the way we live  ----   that our standards of conduct are no better than anyone elses.

But Peter also says that the good things we do make a big difference.  When people see our good works, they will begin giving the credit to God.

I hope you don't get the wrong idea.  I hope you don't think that as soon as you make a mistake or a poor decision, you cant ever bear fruit for God again.  We are all sinners....saved by grace.....so we couldn't be more wrong.  The Bible is filled with stories of people who messed up then went on to do great things for God.  God never gives up on us, and He always offer us a fresh start.

The most important thing to remember is that your fruit tree is planted right out there in public.  Anyone can walk up and inspect the baskets of fruit your are producing for God.  Much of that fruit will be about loving and serving those people.  But watch out for worms!!  They say one bad apple can spoil the whole barrel.