Barren And Unfruitful

Second Peter 1:10 says this, “Work hard to prove that you really are among those God has called and chosen. Do these things, and you will never fall away.”

John 15:8 says this, “This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.”

It isn’t enough to say we are “Christian”, we must actually “be” Christ-like. 

A look into the verses just earlier in first Peter gives us a glimpse as to what virtues make up a Christ follower.

“Supplement your faith with a generous provision of moral excellence, and moral excellence with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with patient endurance, and patient endurance with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love for everyone.”  (verse 5-7)

There are clear directives given… all traits that build upon one another:

• faith with moral excellence
• moral excellent with knowledge
• knowledge with self-control
• self controls with patient endurance
• patient endurance with godliness
• godliness with brotherly affection
• brotherly affection with love

And without these virtues properly supplied, scripture defines us as, “blind” (2 Peter 1:9), “barren” (2 Peter 1:8), and “unfruitful” (Titus 3:14).

Isaiah 5:6 warns us about the results of barrenness and unfruitfulness.  “I will make it a wild place where the vines are not pruned and the ground is not hoed, a place overgrown with briers and thorns. I will command the clouds to drop no rain on it.”

And when we take a look into barrenness, we see there is a significant difference between that and being unfruitful, although both words are very similar in nature.

To be “barren” means to be unproductive, empty, depleted, possessing nothing, bare.  It is representative of a field which yields absolutely nothing.
To be “unfruitful” means to be unprofitable, not yielding good crops, unrewarding, work done ‘all in vain.’  It represents a field which has been toiled slightly, but as a result of half-hearted effort, yields very little crop.

The barren field depicts a person unconvinced.
The unfruitful field intimates a person unconverted.

And while I am not sure which is worse, I tend to lean toward the unfruitful.
Scripture tells us that, “When someone has been given much, much will be required in return; and when someone has been entrusted with much, even more will be required.”  (Luke 12:48)
And so the more we know… the more divine revelation we’ve been blessed with… the more the virtues of moral excellence, self control, patience, godliness, and love are expected to be produced.

Our fruit must be evident for all to see.
When we, like the Israelites, circle the same scenery for 40 years in the wilderness, we've not learned much, and continue on the path of being a “consumer” and not a “producer.”

Oh how the Father wants so much more for you and me!

The Father is glorified.. He is made most famous.. by the bearing of much fruit by those who call themselves His followers.

May it always be said of us that our conversion is made evident by the abundance of fruit we produce.