When we thing about fruitfulness, we think first about fruit. That fruit can look like actual fruit, for example; tomatoes, peppers, or zucchini. It can look like getting a raise, buying a new home or property, or having a baby! But there is another side to fruitfulness, which requires obedience and sacrifice.
One of the common ways people practice obedience and sacrifice in the church is by tithing. Tithing is giving 10% of what you make, the first fruits of your labor, to God. That 10% can mean a lot to many people, and it can be hard to give. But the Lord commands us in Malachi 3:10:
Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.
Tithing is a great way to see what God can do with what you give him. But at the end of the day, it’s not about the amount you give, but the trust you have in him with what you give. That trust and faith in who He is and what He can do with the things we give Him, is what the Lord rewards.
There are instances in the Bible where the lack of sacrifice and obedience led therefore to the lack of fruitfulness. One example is when the Lord asked Saul to totally destroy the Amalekites, including their families and their animals. Saul obeyed to destroy the Amalekite people, but kept their king and the best of their livestock alive for himself and his soldiers.
Because Saul disobeyed God’s specific command and refused to sacrifice the things that were of value to him, Saul was rejected as King of Israel and later replaced.
There are other stories that talk about the unwavering commitment to act in obedience to the Lord’s command. When the Israelites were travelling in the desert, the presence of the Lord would manifest over the tabernacle in the form of a cloud. The Israelites were told that whenever the cloud lifted from the tent, they would set out, and wherever the cloud settled, they would camp.
The cloud could settle over the tabernacle for days, months, or years, but the Israelites would not move unless the Lord moved. That commitment to be obedient and travel in that way was a sacrifice of their comfort and sometimes peace. It’s hard to settle down when you know that you will have to move, but not when, and to always live in that in-between. But in physically following the Lord wherever He led them, they were taken care of, protected and eventually made it to the promised land.
Everyone has their own story of obedience, sacrifice, and fruitfulness. If that is something you are currently working through, it probably does not feel fruitful, because it sucks. But sacrifice and obedience in the things of the Lord isn’t the absence of fruitfulness, but the path towards it.