What berry are you ?

Recently I spotted some mobile company adverts that read “What berry are you?” across the town. Never gave it a thought until few days ago. I had an opportunity to lay hands on one berry which is different from my blackberry. You see, there are many berries around: The original Blackberry, than you have the Blueberry, Touchberry, Crackberry ….. the list goes on and on.

This blog is not about mobile phones, but the point is, God just impressed this in my heart: what berry are you ? or rather what fruit do you produce ?
The Bible says that we are known by our fruits. Fruits are the end-product of an amazingly long process of happenings in a plant. Fruits give character to its tree. Fruits give reputation to its tree, or even its planter, the farmer. Good fruits will verify that the soil is good, the planting method is effective and the weather is conducive.

Like-wise, Christians are known by the fruits they bear. We can try to look good as a Christian, but if our minds and our lives have not been renewed daily by God’s grace, and if we have not been willing to let the Holy Spirit to work through us, then the fruits that come out from us will not be as pleasing as we thought it would be. And just like fruits might look good outside but rotten inside, we might look attractive from outside, but not pleasing to people around us when they get a little closer to us.

Here’s something I believe we can do to produce good fruits:
1. Spend quality time with God daily. Good tree needs good nutrients. When you spend time with God, dwell in His Words, meditate on His promises, be transformed in your mind daily by listening to God’s voice, you will be nourished with solid daily bread each day, and you will stay healthy spiritually.
2. Live a life of worship. It is not enough to think of praising God as a “join-in” activity. We don’t worship only when we are in church (early enough) to catch the ‘singing session’ or when someone plays worship CDs around us. Rather, make it a point to start praising God yourself. Make effort to play worship CDs in your car, at home or sing praise songs to God anywhere, anytime. By the way, worship is not about music only, worshipping God is actually honouring God. When we live a life of worship, we live a life of honouring God in everything we do, in our thoughts, in our action.
3. Be a blessing to others. Love is a verb. To love someone is to make your love felt by someone you love. The Bible has an entire chapter in 1 Corinthians 13 that talks about what love is, and what love is not. To put it simply, we can’t just talk about love and never lift a finger to help others. When love is not effective, there is no good fruit shown.

So, what berry are you ? True colours will tell.

Here’s my fruit tree song, hope you like it.

Blessed is the man
Whose delight is the law of the Lord
He’s like a tree planted by streams of living water
Who yields it’s fruit in every season
He prospers with good fruits.

Lord, search my heart, change my mind,
Fill my heart with love
So that I bear good fruits,
Pleasing to You.

Lord, purify, sanctify,
Make me more like You
So that I bear good fruits,
In every season of my life.
The Fruit Tree Song