Fruitful or Barren?
As I read Mark 11, I was reminded that the branch that produces fruit cannot remain dormant.
You see, the fruit is developed from within a person, and it is a culmination of their actions, their thoughts, and their character. This happens when one allows the Vine Dresser to reach down to their core and put to death their old ways and make them new, transforming them from the inside out.
This transformation results in a character that can’t be manufactured, but only one that can be birthed.
However, the Lord doesn’t just make you look like Him. You have to partner with Him, abide in Him, surrender to Him, and make Him Lord of your life and not just Savior of your life for the fruit to be birthed in you.
We can look good on the outside all day. We can present ourselves well, show up on social media and at events, and look like we have it all together. We can possess nice things, reach our goals, and attribute what we’ve obtained to God because we are believers…and still be barren.
Remember, the fig tree looked fruitful, but when Jesus got close to it, He realized it was barren.
God wants transformation, not modification that merely looks like fabricated transformation.
There is a difference between changing what people can see and allowing God to transform what only He can see.
Behavior can be modified. Appearance can be managed. Words can be rehearsed. We can learn to present ourselves in ways that appear spiritual, mature, successful, or even fruitful.
True transformation reaches deeper. It reaches our heart, our motives, and our character.
When the Lord is given space to truly work within us, what He produces internally will be birthed externally.
I urge us as believers and followers of Christ to ask ourselves the following:
Do we look fruitful but are really barren?
Have we surrendered and made Him Lord of our lives and not just Savior?
Are we behavior modifying and calling it transformation lying to ourselves, God, and those who are assigned to uphold us in the kingdom?
These are questions meant to examine us, because when Jesus gets close, what will He find?
True transformation cannot be hidden, fabricated, or contained. It reveals the Glory of God.
Let us Pray:
Heavenly Father as we enter into your courts today with thanksgiving and praise, I can’t help but ask that you allow us to surrender our whole life to you. Not just the part of our lives that we’re okay with you entering, but the parts that we want you to tiptoe around and only look at and not touch. The parts that we’ve worked decades to build and feel naked without. The parts that hold what we believe is our identity. The parts that we believe define us. May we turn it over to you and make you Lord of our life. May you transform us from the inside out and birth within us an identity that can’t be taken or challenged. A character so rooted that when you get close to us, you’ll find fruit and not just leaves. Lord, I pray that we never get so caught up with looking good on the outside that we neglect the only one who can produce eternal fruit on the inside. God, we thank you for our life, and for the life of your son. God, may you find us faithful all the days of our life.
In Jesus’ mighty name, I pray.
Amen, amen, and amen.
From our heart to yours,
Epistle & Co.
Definitions:
Character- Traits or distinctive combination of traits.
Charakter (Greek)- Engraving, exact representation, express image.
Lord- One with Authority over others
Kurios (Greek)- Supreme in authority, master, owner, controller (a person exercising absolute ownership rights)
Savior- One who saves
Soter (Greek)- Savior, Deliverer (one who saves believers from their sins and delivers them into safety)
Fruit-Result
Karpos (Greek)- Figurative reward, action, or spiritual yield.
Resources:
Strong’s Concordance
Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary
The Holy Bible
© 2026 Epistle & Co. | All rights reserved