Precious Fruit

 

How much would you be willing to pay for a piece of fruit? 

  A prized piece of Japanese fruit, the Densuke Watermelon, fetched nearly $4,000 at an auction in Sapporo earlier this month.  And apparently, that’s a bargain.

  This year’s highest-selling fruit, sold to the Isetan department store for $3,743, is actually a steep fall from the Densuke watermelon’s peak season several years ago, when the top pricey fruit sold for $6,100, according to the Wall Street Journal.

  Densuke watermelons are grown exclusively on Hokkaido, in northern Japan, and are prized for their solidly black, smooth-as-a-bowling-ball gourd, crispy texture, and extra sweet juices. Given the rarity of the fruit- there are only about 100 of the stripeless watermelons available on the first day it goes on sale each year- it’s not a surprise that prices reach such astronomical levels.

  What is shocking, however, is that the Densuke isn’t the most prized of Japan’s watermelons. That coveted award goes to Sapporo market’s most expensive fruit, the Yubari melon, (also grown in the center of Hokkaido) which at one point in time has sold for as much as $26,000 (2.5 million yen).

  Christians have a fruit far more precious than the Densuke watermelon or Yubari Cantelope. It's called the fruit of the Spirit: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. (Gal. 5:22,23)  Each fruit is a different aspect of Christ-likeness. In the gospels, we see how Christ exemplified these virtues.  Now He wants to produce them in our hearts--in what we say, how we think, and how we respond to life (John 15:1-4)

  A rare and delicious fruit may bring a premium price in the marketplace, but Christlike character is of far greater worth.  As we confess all known sin and yield to God's indwelling Spirit, our lives will be transformed to the likeness of Christ (I John 1:9; Eph. 5:18)  This spiritual fruit will fill our lives with joy, bless those around us, and last into eternity.  (adapted from a Daily Bread intro from several years ago--originally by Dennis Fisher)

  May our fellowship with Christ today 

bring about fruit of the Spirit that glorifies Christ.