As you know, God speaks to us in many different ways. Often He speaks to us through our circumstances, sometimes difficult ones. There are many tragic circumstances that people are wading through right now because of the pandemic and its repercussions. Two nights ago I heard one man’s unique story and in it I felt God was expressing an important spiritual lesson.

Here in NSW, there is a mandarin farmer who has been working extremely hard on this year’s crop. He had high hopes for a bumper crop this year and it seems his hopes and hard work have really paid off. His trees are bursting and loaded with beautiful, healthy, large mandarins.

This farmer lives ten kilometres out of town. He does not provide to local markets or anywhere else. No, his business is solely for the pleasure of tourists and visitors to come and pick their own mandarins and make a day of the experience. It is a unique business and it was clear in his interview, that it is something he thoroughly enjoys and looks forward to sharing each year.

This lovely man has worked so hard, and has seen all his hopes come true with acres of this glorious golden orange crop, the best he has seen for years, all ripe and ready for visitors to come and enjoy the experience of picking their own fruit and taking them home with them. Sadly, only a few weeks prior to when he would open his property to the public, this poor man’s property was placed in lockdown. That word that we are hearing repeatedly, every day in the news at present. This man has nowhere to send the mandarins since he is not allowed to travel more than five kilometres from his property, and nobody can pick them because no-one is allowed to travel to him.

As this man shared his story on the evening news, they showed footage of his trees that had branch upon branch full of heavy large mandarins desperately needing to be picked off. You could see they were literally weighing the trees down, and the man wept as he explained the damage that this was doing to his trees. He was now preparing to cut every single fruit bearing branch from every tree. That’s right, every branch that was displaying fruit needed to go. He explained to the interviewer that the heavy crop is not only damaging this year’s harvest but it will damage next year’s harvest as well if he doesn’t get rid of them. Apparently, fruit has to be taken from the trees to keep the trees healthy.  So, that equates to thousands of wasted mandarins.

Wasted fruit. Hmmm. Some years ago when we first moved to Perth, I did a post concerning wasted fruit, inspired by our olive tree. You can read the post here, called Wasting Jesus. But today’s post is on a different level. It had never occurred to me that fruit MUST be removed from the tree. Fruit is MEANT to be taken.

This poor mandarin farmer’s story speaks to me of the necessity for us as Christians, to share the life of Christ in us with others. Lockdown and isolation, forced or by choice, is not God’s design. There are certainly seasons of hiddenness in the Lord, that is for certain. But just as God has made in the natural seasons of Autumn, Winter, Spring and Summer, the goal is always that ultimately, fruit is produced from our lives, for others and for His pleasure.

And what is the fruit of a tree? It is the fullest expression of the life of that tree. What is the fullest expression of God’s life in us? It is none other than Christ Himself. Christ is the life of God in us and we are called to bear His fruit, His expression. Remember Jesus cursing the figtree because although it had leaves to indicate life, it bore no fruit? We are called to bear fruit and that fruit is meant to be taken by others, for the pleasure of God.

This time of isolation, lockdown, separation, hiddenness, bunkering down, is a time of God doing a very rich and deep work in us, His church. The Father is the Husbandman, the Vinedresser. We are the branches of the Vine, His Son. During this global pandemic with its lockdowns and isolation, the Vindedresser is working hard on us in the hopes of a bumper crop, just like that mandarin farmer.

So let us not waste this time but take hold of it with both hands, with all our might, as a gift from God, to let Him have His way in us. Let us give Him our all.  While we are locked away from being able to work or socialise or function outdoors as normal, let us make this a precious and valued time in our spiritual walk with the Lord.  Let’s spend our time waiting on Him, seeking His heart and mind for what are His prayers that He wants us to be praying, asking, What are You saying Lord? What are you wanting?

Rather than seek to be encouraged, let’s encourage. Rather than focus on our own loneliness, let’s make contact by phone, email, texts, facetime, zoom, letters, with others who might be lonely. Let’s hook up with other saints over the technology we have and pray together, laugh together, cry together, have cups of tea together, build one another up in our most holy faith, lifting one anothers’ eyes to Jesus. Let’s make this season matter.

Jesus speaks in the scriptures of cutting off the branches that don’t bear fruit, and casting them into the fire. Saints, we are meant to bear fruit and this time in our lives as God’s people, is meant to bear His fruit in us. In addition, He clearly intends for fruit to be taken. We cannot keep the fruit to ourselves, like the mandarin trees. Let’s pray that He would make our lives fruitful for His sake, and let’s pray for the release of that fruit to others, in His perfect time.

If we keep the Lord to ourselves, and live like it is just ‘Jesus and me’, the good work that He is doing is not shared with others. Not only will there be wasted fruit on the ground that God can do nothing with but we are in danger of becoming weighed down, heavy and unhealthy not only now but possibly even affecting our future effectiveness for the Lord., like the mandarin trees.

I don’t mean that we are to now be burdened with carrying out good works, racing around preaching on the streets and grabbing anyone who will listen to the gospel, out of our own efforts. Remember, the life of the tree is what makes the fruit in us, not our own compulsions. The fruit is Christ Himself. We are meant to express only Christ, as He is expressed naturally, organically, as He wants to be expressed. It is His life in us that will move His expression through us for others. Let’s agree with Him for this.

This is a time to seek the Lord, go deeper in Him, let Him have His way, new and unrestrained ways. And what He will produce in us through this time, He will call upon to be expressed as He leads by His Spirit in us. And what will be given to others, will be Christ. Nothing but Christ.

As the old hymn says, ‘none but Christ can satisfy and there’s no other name for me’.

So dear saints, let’s make the time matter. Let’s give God our all during lockdowns and restrictions. Let’s let the Husbandman have His way with His own garden. Let the Vine produce and bear His fruit in us, the branches. Let us display and make freely available to others, the fruitful expression of Christ that is being forged in us through this global season. Let’s not be thinking of ourselves, and turning inward to ourselves but turn inward to Christ, and let Him lead us in His paths of righteousness, for His name’s sake.

Lord, may Your fruit be produced in us and made ready for a bumper crop for others to come, taste and see that the Lord is good! And to take You into their lives and home to their families.  Freely we have received, freely we MUST give.