You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.

– John 15:16 (ESV)

This passage was read in church today, and it immediately impacted me. It spoke to a longing in my heart that is, at times, somewhat desperate.

Children of the King are chosen and appointed to bear fruit for his Kingdom. Fruit that abides. Fruit that lasts.

As children of God we should be able to point to Kingdom fruit that is lasting. If there is no tangible fruit resulting from our lives there is reason for great concern. That being said, I’m convinced that a faithful Christian – one not just “doing good things” but actually living naturally as the workmanship of God – produces a lot of fruit he is never aware of and won’t be shown until the last Day.

There is an element of faith here that I, as a wavering and unsure servant of God, have to cling to. The true fruit of the Kingdom, the true works, are those actions that work a permanent change, both in ourselves and others. We don’t always see them. We have setbacks and disappointments. And yet we believe, as we yield to God, open ourselves up for his correction and teaching, and surrender ourselves to his will, that fruit will result. And that it will last forever, if it is in God’s hands.

And sometimes it’s there, and we don’t know it, because it hasn’t yet broken through the surface of the soil . . .