The Mirror of the Word and other works by C.E. White can be purchased on her website, cewhitebooks.com or on Amazon.

“Remain in me, and I in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself but must remain in the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me. I am the vine, you are the branches; the one who remains in me, and I in him bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”

—John 15:4–5

We aren’t capable of creating fruit. We can carve wood or mold plastic, and we can paint either to look very much like fruit on the outside, but it will not be nourishing or even edible. It might fool some people at first, but as soon as they try to taste it, they’ll discover the truth.

The same is true of spiritual fruit. If we’re feverishly trying to appear fruitful yet not staying connected to the Father, we might create something that looks like fruit on the outside, but as soon as someone tries to be nourished by what we’re producing, they’ll discover the truth. That fruit will be exhaustion, discouragement, pride, bitterness, or some other rotten thing.

Only fruit produced out of a rich intimacy with Christ will be nourishing to others and fill true spiritual need.

If our fruit is nonexistent or rotten, let’s check our connection to the vine. Are we spending time in prayer and meditating on God’s Word? Are we studying it intentionally so we know how to apply it to our daily lives? Are we looking to worldly wisdom, or are we running to God for his truth so our hearts and minds are transformed and renewed?

Apart from him, all our fruit is useless, but when we remain connected to the vine, we will naturally produce godly fruit in its season.

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