“To be fruitful, associate with the right people, think outside the box, work hard, maximize your god-given talents, and hone your skills.”

That pretty much sums up how the world approaches being fruitful (or successful). And many churches and Christians have followed the same path to arrive at being fruitful. But is that necessarily the biblical view?

John 21 is one of my favorite chapters in all of the Bible. There, the resurrected Jesus meets with His disciples intimately. They had been fishing all night but caught nothing (unfruitful). But when Jesus tells them to cast their net on the other side, they catch an unbelievable number of fish (fruitful). What is this telling us? We can use our gifts and talents and employ best strategies, but without Jesus, we could do nothing (I personally think Jesus let them catch nothing all night to illustrate a point). But with Jesus, they were fruitful instantly!

But do you see that the focus is not on the fish but on Jesus? The disciples weren’t enamored by so much fish they caught but the One who enabled them to catch them. Having made a point (“You can you nothing without me!”), now Jesus interviews Peter to be fruitful for the kingdom. And what is the interview question? 1) Do you love me? 2) Do you love me? and 3) Do you love me?

Never asked him about his vision, strategy, skills, experience. Just “Do you love me?”

Nothing else matters. Everything we are given is so that we can love Jesus more. (family, job, talents, intellect, etc) Everything we do is so that we can display our love for Jesus so that we can continue to love Him more. We were created for this.

What we do out of our love for Jesus is fruit. And the life lived in a love relationship with Jesus is fruitful. But don’t be deceived. To the world that can’t see the invisible, it will seem foolish and unproductive (“What good does serving at a small church really accomplish?”)

Do you love Jesus?
Do you love His word?
Do you love His people?

These are all the same questions, by the way…

PH