Tuesday, September 23, 2008

A "Fruit" Verse

Did you ever think about how many verses in the Bible talk about fruit?

Not apples, grapes, and olives. The other kind of fruit.

The fruit of our hands. The fruit of our lives. The fruit of our work. The word "fruit" is used over and over again to mean "results," "outcome," or "reward," etc. I enjoy making note of each new verse I read or hear that contains the word "fruit" in this sense.

Here are some Mom read at the breakfast table this morning:

"And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue, knowledge; and to knowledge, temperance; and to temperance, patience; and to patience, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ."
~II Peter 1:5-8

I can't count the number of times I've read verses 5-7. Every time I do, the realization of how much diligence I really need to apply to acquiring these things awes me.

Mom didn't know it, but I had just read these very verses before breakfast, as I studied the qualities a woman of God should have, in preparation for the series that will soon be hosted here. These things were already on my list:

Virtue
Patience
Kindness
Love

The other qualities needed to be added:

Temperance
Knowledge
Godliness

I keep working on that list. I now have 42 qualities that I have found. Accompanying those qualities is a list of 132 references, where I found them mentioned in the Bible. The more I study, the more I find. I am having so much fun!!!

2 comments:

Sarah said...

Thank you for sharing, Amber! I am looking forward to the upcoming series! :)

Amber said...

Me too, Sarah. :)