FRUIT THAT WILL LAST
20th May 2026
I have been thinking a lot about John 15:16 recently. It says, “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit - fruit that will last.”
We often think that it was our idea to commit our lives to Jesus, but this verse clearly says, “I chose you.” It was God’s plan to call you to belong to Him.
Also, we can feel that we have no value and no purpose in our Christian lives, that we are invisible. We gather with God’s people in church each week, but do we have a role or any significance? This verse says, “I chose you and appointed you.” You matter to God, and He has appointed you to be His ambassador in the place where you live and work.
God has called you “to go and bear fruit,” which means that as you interact with those around you, you carry Jesus with you, and His presence impacts those you meet and have relationships with.
Not only are you to bear fruit, but your interaction with those you meet is intended to bear “fruit that will last.”
I was greatly encouraged when, with friends in Cornwall last week. They had met a minister a short time previously, who, in the conversation, had asked, “Do you know Charles Sibthorpe?” They said, “Yes, in fact Joyce and Charles are coming to have coffee with us tomorrow.” That was a great surprise!
He then said, “Many years ago, I went to a Leaders Week led by Charles. I was discouraged and at a very low ebb, and ready to give up. That week changed my life, healed and restored me. I would just love to meet him again and give him a big hug.” Our friends said he would be very welcome; however, when he looked at his diary, it was not possible.
I was greatly encouraged to know that God had fulfilled His word - “fruit that will last.”
Don’t undervalue yourself, Matthew 10:42 says, “And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly not lose his reward.”
by Charles Sibthorpe
