A Thought on Bearing Good Fruit

This may be way off base but check this out.

John 15:4(NKJV)

4Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.

One of the things people wonder about is how can God condemn "good" people to hell?  This verse might help to explain it.  The main problem is that people define "good" differently than God does.

Many people, if they see a person who selflessly gives to the poor, etc.; even if they are not a Christian, they don't see how a loving God could send that person to hell. 

I think one answer can be found in the verse above.  Scripture very clearly tells us that we can not bear good fruit unless we abide in Jesus and He in us.  So no matter how much good people do, if it is done without Jesus, God doesn't view it as good fruit in the way that He defines it. 

"But that's not fair!".  Actually according to God it is.  Those that believe it's not fair are substituting their judgment for God's.  Try thinking of it this way. 

When you were young your parents probably made unreasonable demands of you like that you clean your bedroom.  No, don't just shove all the junk under the bed and call it clean, actually clean the bedroom.  And when you didn't do it the way your parents wanted it done you were punished.  And you were angry about how unfair it was because after all, you cleaned it your way and that should be good enough!  That or something like it ever happen to anybody out there?

Now fast forward 20 years and you have kids of your own and funny thing, you are making unreasonable and unfair demands of your kids.  Why?  Because you now have a better understanding why your parents wanted it done a certain way.  And you come to realize that your parents weren't really unfair after all.  In fact they were right. 

The simple fact of the matter is that a person can think it is unfair all they want, God says it isn't.  God is the owner and master of all.  It's His plan.  He  says very plainly that if you want to bear good fruit, it can ONLY be done through Jesus. 

So here's a suggestion.  Even if right now you think it is unfair that you should have to accept Jesus to bear fruit that is pleasing to God the Father, do it anyway!  In the end I'm sure that it will turn out just like it did when you realized just how smart your parents were after all!