May 11, 2026

Have you ever seen a fruit tree bear different fruits? At first glance it doesn’t sound possible, but from my understanding there’s something more when you factor in technology of ‘grafting’.  When you use this technology, you can develop a tree with multiple types of fruit; that is, several varieties of the same fruit. For example, an apple tree can be grafted to produce various types of apples, yet the tree itself is an ‘apple’ tree. It is generally noted that only fruits within the same family can be grated together, for example, stone fruits with stone fruits or citrus with citrus. We don’t need to go into further depth because we want to look at the spiritual application of this in our lives.

So then, what is the application for us? What kind of fruit are we bearing in our lives? Some will say we should bear the fruit of love, patience, joy, etc. That’s true, and as a believer, we can and many do bear those fruits. (You can read more about the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22-23 but suffice it to say these are visible attributes of a Christian’s life shaped by the Holy Spirit. 

When we look closely at Jesus and what He is like, and has provided for us, we see that we are able to bear the fruit of His likeness in us. So then, those qualities of who Jesus is: He is love, joy, peace, comfort, righteousness, salvation, etc., are available to us. How do we develop those? By spending time with Jesus. The more we do, the more we’ll see Jesus bearing the fruit of HIS LIKENESS in us. We’ll begin to look more like Jesus!

You may have heard people mention that a young boy is the ‘smitten image’ of his father, where the father’s likeness is seen in the child. The same is true for us as children of God. As believers, we are the smitten image of Jesus. Did you catch that? Yep, I can see it:  You look just like Jesus!

Let’s allow His likeness to be seen and evident more in our lives by spending time with Him and in His Word. Let’s bear the fruit of His likeness in our lives, actions, and words.