Meaning
- produce valuable results.
- generate positive outcomes or benefits.
- yield useful results or consequences.
- develop favorable outcomes from effort or action.
- bring about satisfactory or worthwhile consequences or effects.
Example Sentences
- Bearing fruit takes time and patience.
- This new initiative will bear fruit for years to come.
- The project has borne fruit at last.
- If we persevere, our hard work will bear fruit.
- The changes have already started to bear fruit.
- By bearing fruit together, we accomplish far more.
- Despite obstacles, their determination bore fruit.
- The seeds that were sown long ago are now bearing fruit.
Origin
The phrase 'bear fruit' has biblical origins. In the Bible, Jesus speaks frequently of abiding in faith and producing good works. For example, in John 15:8, Jesus says:
"By this is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples."
Bearing fruit was a metaphor Jesus used to describe living a life of goodness, righteousness, and faithfulness. When Christians produce good works, spiritual maturity, kindness, and disciples, they are seen as bearing fruit. It demonstrates the vitality and virtue of their faith.
The fruit that Christians bear includes things like love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). When believers cultivate these attributes in their lives, they prove the authenticity of their faith through the fruit they produce.
In contrast, without good fruit, faith is seen as dead (James 2:17). So, bearing fruit is a sign of a living, active faith. It shows that Jesus' Spirit is alive and working in and through believers, transforming them to be more like Christ every day.