April 4 – Bring Forth Fruit

Hope for Today: A Daily Devotion from Reasons for Hope*Jesus

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“Those who come He shall cause to take root in Jacob; Israel shall blossom and bud, and fill the face of the world with fruit.” Isaiah 27:6

“They shall still bear fruit in old age; they shall be fresh and flourishing.” Psalm 92:14

“Its leaf will be green, and will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will cease from yielding fruit.” Jeremiah 17:8

True Christians form a lowly estimate of their spiritual attainments, accounting themselves, comparatively, barren trees in the plantation of God. Hence, when they approach the last tribunal, they will be ready to disclaim those pretensions which even their Judge will distinctly support (Matthew 25:37-40). The reason is, they are poor in spirit and are not satisfied with the fruits which they have borne; all that they were ever tempted to pronounce excellent in themselves, vanishes before the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ.

Grant, O Lord, that I may earnestly seek to bring forth fruit, and may grow in fruitfulness as I grow in years and never cease from yielding fruit, hereby proving myself to be a tree of the Lord’s planting, whose leaf is green and whose branches are flourishing and productive. Yet bless me also with deep poverty of spirit, that I may acknowledge myself still to be nothing, having nothing of my own to glory in, and thus may esteem Christ my All, and rest upon Him wholly. In Jesus only would I trust, and in Him only would I glory.

Devotion by Karl Heinrich von Bogatzky (1690—1774)