Shownotes
Wisdom-Trek / Creating a Legacy
Welcome to Day 634 of our Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me.
This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom
What Kind of Fruit Is on Your Tree? – Mindshift Monday
Thank you for joining us for our 5 days per week wisdom and legacy building podcast. This is Day 634 of our trek, and it is time for our Mindshift Monday series.
Wisdom-Trek’s primary focus is to assist you in creating your living legacy. Creating your living legacy can only be accomplished by gaining wisdom in many areas of life. You can only gain wisdom by changing your negative habits into positive habits. Changing habits is a result of changing the way you think.
In other words, to create your living legacy, you must choose to be in a continual mode of Mindshift, or “changing the way you think.” It is easy to get stuck in a mindset that your current circumstances cannot be changed. This is not true, but you must understand this fundamental principle, “In order to change your life, you must change how you think and what you think about.” Our Mindshift Monday podcast and journal will be to provide you practical ways to make a mind-shift to a rich and satisfying life.
We are broadcasting from our studio at The Big House in Marietta, Ohio. On Saturday, we were blessed to host the birthday party for our great niece Maya who turns 4 this week. Her mom, Rebekah, lives in Columbus and wanted to have her party here so that the local cousins could also attend. With Kip staying with us for these two weeks, we were able to have all six grandchildren with us also. Since Hazel’s immune system is still very fragile due to her leukemia, she was just here for a few minutes, but it was great to have all the kids here to celebrate Maya’s birthday.
Paula and I enjoy having The Big House available for all types of family gatherings, as it has been the family hub now for over 115 years. We are blessed to carry on this legacy, which we desire to pass on to many more generations. Creating a legacy is based on the type of fruit or results that your life produces. The fruit your life produces is based on your mindset. So our trek today will cover…
What Kind of Fruit Is on Your Tree?
As a Christ follower, our lives should produce positive character traits or fruit. In Psalms 1:3 we read, “They are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season. Their leaves never wither, and they prosper in all they do.”
Jesus also spoke figuratively concerning a tree as representing a person’s life when He said in Matthew 12:33, “A tree is identified by its fruit. If a tree is good, its fruit will be good. If a tree is bad, its fruit will be bad.” Jesus then said in John 15:8, “When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father.”
Since your life can be figuratively illustrated as a tree, I must ask you this question, What kind of fruit is on your tree?
I had the privilege of growing up on an apple orchard where we raised a dozen different kinds of apples along with a few peaches and pears. Each year as the fruit matured in the fall, it was very easy to determine what type of tree it was by the type of fruit that was manifested on its branches. This is also true of your life. The people who you associate with know what type of person you are because of the fruit you bear in your daily living. Those in your immediate family will have a full realization of this.
Here is a truth that is important to consider…Just as a tree can’t produce fruit that is not of its kind, neither can you. In other words, you can produce in your life only fruit that is consistent with your character. No person is capable of living a deceptive life at all times around all persons. You cannot produce consistent fruit that you do not believe or embrace.
Just like it takes proper water, nutrients, nurturing and pruning for an apple tree to produce a good and bountiful crop of apples, your life requires the same to produce good character traits, or fruit. If you desire to produce better fruit in your life, you must have a Mindshift by changing the way you think. You can change the way you think with the proper nutrients going into your mind, nurturing those thoughts, and then pruning out the bad or unproductive thoughts.
In the 15th Chapter of John, Jesus gives the formula for successful fruit bearing:
1. You must be connected to the correct nutrient source.
In John 15:4-5 Jesus said, “Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me. ‘Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.'”
Many people who are frustrated by the lack of fruit in their lives have never had a right relationship with God. Their fruit is artificial like wax apples and not satisfying. Their independent spirit has shriveled their resources until their production is limited to their small, cramped capacity to produce – much like a crab apple is a poor representation of fruit. What a difference it makes to realize that to be connected to God means His power is Your power! What is His becomes yours. No longer is it a question of “How can you expand your potential?” but rather “How can you allow God’s power to flow through you?”
2. You must be pruned and disciplined to be fruitful.
Jesus said in John 15:2, “He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more.” Fruit bearing is God’s highest desire for your life. He wants you to bear more fruit. He is the source of unlimited blessings that should flow from your life into the lives of others. He wants you to be disciplined in order to be the channel for greater fruitfulness. He wants you to create and live your legacy each day. For this to become a reality, you must allow Him to change the way you think and remove every hindrance to fruit bearing in your life. You will be fruitful only as you have a Mindshift and become disciplined. Pruning your thinking is the price for abundant fruit.
3. You must realize that God’s purpose for His children is fruitfulness.
Once again Jesus tells us in John 15:8, “When you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father.” Once you allow God to start changing the way you think and discover His purpose, it is much easier to do His will. The fruit of the Spirit should be your key or template to effective fruit bearing. Keep your relationship right with God, allow Him to change the way you think, and keep your life disciplined, then you can fulfill God’s purpose for your life. Your constant contact with the Vine will provide the nutrients and source for your continual Mindshift.
With these thoughts in mind, we will conclude our trek for today as you tap into the source to produce a bountiful, continual supply of good fruit in your life through staying connected to God and allowing Him to change the way you think.
Next week we will continue our trek of Mindshift Monday. On tomorrow’s trek, we will explore another wisdom quote. This 3-minute wisdom supplement will assist you in becoming healthy, wealthy and wise each day. Thank you for joining me on this trek called life. Encourage your friends and family to join us and then come along tomorrow for another day of our Wisdom-Trek, Creating a Legacy.
That will finish our trek for today. If you would like to listen to any of our past treks or read the Wisdom Journal, they are available at Wisdom-Trek.com. You can also subscribe at iTunes or Google Play so that each day’s trek will be downloaded automatically.
Thank you so much for allowing me to be your guide, mentor, and most of all your friend as I serve you through the Wisdom-Trek podcast and journal.
As we take this trek of life together, let us always:
- Live Abundantly (Fully)
- Love Unconditionally
- Listen Intentionally
- Learn Continuously
- Lend to others Generously
- Lead with Integrity
- Leave a Living Legacy Each Day
This is Guthrie Chamberlain reminding you to Keep Moving Forward, Enjoy Your Journey, and Create a Great Day Every Day! See you tomorrow!