Look at the Fruit!

Planning is exciting. It fills the thoughts with hopes of a realized conclusion, crossing a finish line of accomplishment. As we enter the New Year we tend to make plans. If you are like me, as soon as I think about what I want to accomplish, I get worn out seeing all the things in the way! What might seem like crawling through briars in a forest can make me wonder where I'm headed. Then I am reminded, "Look at the Fruit!"

Jesus told His followers that by people's fruit, you would know them. In other words, by the outward things they say and do, the fruit of their lives, you have a pretty good picture of what a person is really like.

But on New Year's Day, I think of something entirely different when I say, "Look at the Fruit!" Crawling through the briars so-to-speak has no value whatsoever unless we know why we are doing it, why we sacrifice, what we hope to accomplish; in other words, what the fruit is. Setting our eyes on what is before us, we can press on toward our calling. Because God, who exists outside of time, is already there! If He called us to something, He Himself will see to it that we get there. In the Book of Isaiah it says, "You have performed all our works for us." The fruit is already on the branch. Maybe we don't see it clearly yet. Maybe on January 1 we see the briars first, and the goal seems so far away.

Perhaps like me, God calls you also to focus on the goal, being energized and encouraged by what it will mean when you get there. Stay focused on the end result as you plan each step how to get there this year. Each day, keep looking through eyes of faith! Look at the Fruit! 

May God bless you and your family with much fruit and His great favor throughout 2017!

Happy New Year!

Ed and Rosemarie Adcock