What's in a Name? The Story Behind Choosing the Title for My Blog

Choosing a name for a blog is so difficult haha! There is so much pressure behind it that I could have never imagined until the time to choose came. The name sets the tone for the entire blog and is even an insight to the main goal. Not to mention, it’ll be the name of my blog forever. So why did I choose this specific name? Let’s dig into that!  

     When praying over my main goal for this blog, there was one word that kept coming to me. Fruit. Then the Lord took me to this verse that is located in John 15, verse 16. It says, "You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.” So much is spoken in that one verse, but the main point is this, God has chosen me and you to go bear fruit. Fruit that doesn’t fade, but lasts a lifetime. There are so many verses in the Bible that speak of fruit, but what does it mean to bear fruit? It means to produce a good, christ-like character. 

     Let’s jump over to the book of Galations. In Galatians 5, verses 22-23a it states this, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” I want to break this verse down just a tad bit. The fruits of the Spirit are listed, but what exactly does that mean? It means that we are in step with the Spirit and allowing him to work through us. Let’s think of it this way, if you are with someone who is always grumpy and negative, you will more than likely find yourself being grumpy and negative as time goes on because you are allowing that person to have an impact in your life. It is similar in a way with the Spirit. The more time you spend with Jesus, the more His Spirit will work in your life, and the more you will produce the Spirit’s fruit. 

     Let’s go to John 15:1-17. It says this, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes[a] so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. 5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. 9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. 17 This is my command: Love each other.

Did you read it? Wonderful! Let’s dig into it real quick as well! 

If you didn’t know it, all of John 15 is Jesus speaking to his disciples. He starts out saying, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.”  Jesus is stating here that He is the vine. I want to point out that one purpose of a vine is to pump life into the branches. That is what Jesus does for us. He gives us life and continues to love and support us while also challenging us to grow. It also mentioned branches in that verse. The branches represent all those who claim to follow Jesus. Some branches don’t produce fruit which represents those who say they follow Christ but don’t have any actions supporting that statement. Other branches are those that produce fruit; those who are true believers that are striving every day to live as Christ lived. When we are living unfruitful lives, then we can be cut off from the tree in order to not infect the rest of the tree. It also mentions that those branches that bear fruit, God will prune. To prune something means to cut back parts in order to make a better shape or help produce more growth. When we are living a life for Christ, there are still going to be times when the Lord is going to have to prune us and take away parts of our lives that are not benefiting us or His kingdom. It ultimately will strengthen us and our relationship with Jesus. 

As we go on in John 15, Jesus states in verse 4 to “Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.” Let’s think about this for a minute. When we are not around anyone or anything and we are doing nothing, we aren’t producing anything right? That is how it is with Jesus as well. We must always remain in Jesus in order to bear fruit. Think of a plant. If a plant gets its root cut off, then the plant will stop producing and living. The same goes for us. Another translation changes the word remain to abide. The word abide is a verb, so it is an action that we must do. To abide in something means to remain, stay, or dwell in it. So when we abide in Jesus, that means that we are with Him at all times. It means that we are thinking of Him, talking with Him, and spending time with Him. When we do that, it would be so incredibly hard to not produce fruit. 

This can be overwhelming, but is so incredibly important for us to understand and apply it to our lives. There are so many more verses that I could walk you through about producing fruit. There are many different kinds of fruits that we can produce. And there are many different ways to produce fruit. As I have already stated before, my main goal for this blog is to help you produce good fruit and live a fruitful life. I won’t stop talking about fruit here because it is not a once and done kind of thing. It is a choice every single day to get up, choose Jesus, and live a fruitful life. 

Once again, welcome to my blog, A Fruitful Life. My challenge to you today is to spend time reading John 15 more. Pray over it, and ask God to start producing good, abundant fruit in your life.