Bring Forth Fruit

[Jesus said] “Two people owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he forgave the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?” Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven.” “You have judged correctly,” Jesus said. Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.” Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” – Luke 7:41-48

“Therefore bring forth fruit in keeping with your repentance.” – Matthew 3:8

“Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.” – Luke 3:8-9

“But made known openly first of all to those at Damascus, then at Jerusalem and throughout the whole land of Judea, and also among the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works and live lives consistent with and worthy of their repentance.” – Acts 26:20 (The apostle Paul is defending himself to Agrippa, speaking of his ministry.)

That the Word of God is a dynamic living thing is never more apparent to me than when the Holy Spirit gives me two or more seemingly unlike Scriptures. I had been looking for the source of the phrase “He who is forgiven much, loves much.” I ended up with the Scriptures above.

Then I found this quote from a Psalms of Ascent’s blog entitled “He Who is Forgiven Much, Loves Much” by Father Rick. He says, “The one story that will be told everywhere is one that says where there is greater debt, there is greater forgiveness.” Father Rick is of course speaking for the woman washing Jesus’ feet. The one forgiven much, loves much. So what comes of that love? The “fruit in keeping with repentance". This flows together for me with a surety of truth from deep within my spirit, but I’m not sure I’m explaining it well.
Repentance --> Forgiveness --> Love --> Fruit

In my old perspective, the Scriptures from Matthew and Acts sound like a balance sheet idea: I've repented "X" amount so I need to produce "X" amount of fruit. But God’s does not keep such a balance sheet. There are no merits or demerits He’s tracking over our lives. He pours out His grace, covers all our sins, forgives all the moment we repent.

Then God pours His Spirit into our hearts, now empty of sin and quickened with thankfulness. His Spirit mixes with our new love to flow out in acts of love and grace, the fruit spoken of in the passage. The more you love God, the more you are aware of His great gift of forgiveness, then the more you are motivated, inspired even, to pour out that love onto others.

What then messes up this flow and keeps us from being fruitful all the time? What prompted Jesus and Paul to exhort us to do good works in keeping with repentance? I say it is our flesh, our old nature so prone to sin that gets in the way. Just as fatty deposits - plaque - can build up in our veins and arteries, restricting - even blocking - the flow of blood so vital to our bodies, so sin blocks the flow of spiritual vitality and renders us fruitless.

But God is faithful! His Spirit is not taken away, just the flow diminished or blocked. Believers once again can repent and be forgiven, fall in love and be fruitful again.