My mom has at her desk a sign she made that says, "Knee work bears fruit." Its a reminder to rely on God for all that we want to see in our lives and the lives of those we love. Martin Luther famously said, "I have held many things in my hands, and I have lost them all; but whatever I have placed in God's hands, that I still possess." I've added the phrase "cultivates" and got to thinking, Biblically how does this play out.
In John 15:1-4, Jesus gives the analogy of himself being the grapevine, his disciples being the branches and God being the gardener who cuts of branches not producing fruit and prunes branches to produce more. He says the disciples had already been pruned by the message Jesus gave them and simple says, "Remain in me and I will remain in you for a branch can't bear fruit unless you remain in me"
In Genesis 4 we see God wants our affections, our love (Abel)- not what we produce (Cain). He wants us to come to him in faith like Abel (Hebrews 11:1-6). Cain's sacrifice may have been on automatic bill pay but it wasn't done in love. This is explained in 1 John 3:11-24: We must not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and killed his brother. And why did he kill him? Because Cain had been doing what was evil, and his brother had been doing what was righteous.
Lord help me to see myself and others with your eyes of love, compassion and mercy. Help me to pray, remind me of your purposes. Give me your heavenly vision to be accomplished on earth, in your time. Give me grace to follow where you lead, keep me near your heart. In Jesus name amen.
Much Fruit
CULTIVATING THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT
Why did God accept Abel’s offering but reject Cain’s offering? Why did Cain then kill Abel?
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/m/martinluth390009.html
on a side note:
John 15, got me thinking of the old song, "I heard it through the grapevine". My exposure to the song was with the California Raisins (a commercial using that song - but only the phrase out of context). I wondered if this had any Spiritual roots to John 15, but it was traced back to "a phrase associated with black slaves during the Civil War, who had their form of telegraph: the human grapevine"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Heard_It_Through_the_Grapevine