Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. |Genesis1:11|
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Sometime late last year during Sunday school, I remember highlighting that everything God created in the beginning had a function and a purpose. And afterwards, I began thinking about that statement, and I pondered on how Genesis says: “ the land produce(d) vegetation: seed-bearing plants, and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds” (Gen 1:11). I used to wonder why after creation God called everything good. And it occurred to me that everything he created was good because it functioned according to what it was created to do.
I imagine that we are like fruit trees. All of us are meant to bear fruit. We are to produce fruit according to our kind; that is, we are to produce the fruit according to what God has created us to produce. We are like fruit trees, each meant to produce different kinds of fruit, different size of fruit; each bearing in the season that we ought.
But why does this matter?
Immediately I thought of the scripture with the vineyard owner who became angry that a particular fig wasn’t producing fruit. And, fed up, he wanted it cut down. But the keeper of the vineyard begged to prune the tree for a little while longer to attempt to make it produce fruit. Because after too much time, it was seen as just taking up resources, and not functioning according to its purpose.
Imagine a banana tree trying to bear oranges. Or a lemon tree trying to bear apples. Or an apple tree choosing not to bear any fruit because it wants to produce bananas instead. Imagine if a sneaky worm came and corrupted the trees, causing them not to produce anything at all. The whole ecosystem would be out of order.
As I processed this, searching and judging myself by this word, I realize more than ever that it’s important to know our purpose and to function within it. Perhaps you don’t think of yourself as being important in a world of over 9 billion people who have similar or “better” (what makes it better exactly?) talents, but functioning in your purpose is important in the community that you are in. I think a lot of us spend time attempting and sometimes even flourishing outside of what we were created to do. And although you may be good at that, if it isn’t what God has called you to, you’re not walking purposefully.
There are people who have accomplished many things, but before God that work is equivalent to straw, and will be consumed by fire. For those of us who care about this, it’s imperative for us to reposition ourselves, not according to what others believe we ought to do, but to manifest the glory God has placed in us.
When things cease to function according to their purpose, their glory goes away as well. Did God’s glory not lift away from Adam and Eve after they sinned? Did not everything in nature also become disjointed?
Moreover, the scripture of the husbandman pleading for more time to prune the fig is the image of Jesus making intercession for you, pleading on your behalf for a chance to prune you so that you produce fruit. As long as you are still breathing, there is a chance for you. Ask Him what it is that you are supposed to be doing. What is your talent, your gift, your calling?
Personally, God has unearthed some interests that I long buried because I dismissed them; and it’s in late 2023 that I realized I was attempting to bury fruit. I was like that person given one talent, and out of fear, chose to bury it rather than invest it.
There is an equilibrium that we experience in ourselves when we are in alignment with our purpose; we are fulfilled when we are operating in our purpose, functioning according to how we were created, producing according to the seed we carry.
So, pray for the revelation of the fruit you’re meant to produce. It’s not necessarily about defining yourself just based off of an occupation/career: an admin assistant, a doctor, a teacher, a whatever. Because even in your function as that, there are other fruit that you may be neglecting that you ought to be producing as well.
However, despite the discouragement, doubt, fear, uncertainty, stagnancy, I can see the fruit of resilience and perseverance. And I’m assured that even in this year and years to come I’ll see the rewards of that. So, pray for the revelation of the fruit you’re meant to produce. It’s not necessarily about defining oneself as just one specific thing: a singer, a doctor, a whatever. Because even in your function as that, there are other fruit that you may be neglecting that you ought to be producing as well.
