The Blessing of Bad Fruit
Blessings in the rain
Normally in farming rain can be a good thing, however, as with many things in life too much of a good thing can have a negative result.
This year we had lots of rain and it created the environment that allowed more bugs to flourish. Even though I sprayed the trees with a pesticide to deter them. The bugs damaged about 2,000 peaches!
That was a huge loss for us since we rely on the sale of the fruit to help support our ministry here on Tsushima.
It was a major disappointment to lose so many peaches and I felt upset knowing how hard we had worked. Now it felt like we were getting nothing back.
After a while, I felt God speaking to my heart, He was telling me to give those peaches away to those who cannot afford to buy fresh fruit.
Although the fruit did not look good enough to sell in the market, it was still good to eat after cutting out the part bitten by the insect. So I followed that conviction and began to give away those peaches. Although, we loss 2,000 peaches we brought smiles and and lots of joy to many people who were very grateful to receive the fruit for free. I met a resident whose spouse had died and was in distress. I shared with her the promise of eternal life in heaven and said a prayer for her. She said she wanted to learn more about Christ.
I think one more soul in the kingdom is worth a lot more than 2,000 peaches. I would not have met her if we didn't lose the peaches.
God is so good!
Everyday He reminds us that this mission and ministry belongs to Him. By giving away the peaches we built stronger examples of Christian love in the community.
It is sometimes easy to forget that we should be following God's plan not He following ours. When we trust Him, even in our disappointments, He can can turn bad fruit into a blessing.
Sometimes we are like those peaches. Jesus said that we wants us to bear fruit.
John 15:16
You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.
But what exactly is the kind of fruit Jesus wanted us to bear. Paul describes it like this
Gal 5:22-23
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.
Sometimes like the peaches, we might not be that perfect fruit, but we can still bring smiles to people's faces with the good part of our fruit. We don't need to be perfect to show God's love. We don't have to know everything either, all we need to do is trust in the One who loves us with all His heart and gave His life for us.
Ephesians 3:20-21
Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.