Green Leaves - But Any Pumpkins?

After we moved into our rental in Riverstone, I pulled out some of the overgrown seasonal plants which were dying.  In a cleared area of soil it was not long before a vine began to grow.  At first I thought it might be a zucchini plant, but after a month it became clear it was a pumpkin vine.  I knew this only because of the small green pumpkins the size of a cricket ball crowned with a golden flower.  The boys and I continued to water the plant along with our passion fruit vines.  Recently I went out to check on the growth of the pumpkins and to my surprise could not find a single one.  Upon further inspection, some animal (likely a possum or rat) had eaten every flower and pumpkin during the night, leaving only a small bit of rind.  That explained why the vine is growing massive.  With the fruit being eaten before it is mature, the vine keeps expanding.  The problem is, there's no fruit!  That's the only reason I didn't rip up the plant like a common weed!

The LORD reminded me of the passage in Song of Songs 2:15 that says, "Catch us the foxes, the little foxes that spoil the vines, for our vines have tender grapes."  Foxes, like possums, are opportunistic.  In the middle of the night they sneak into the garden or vineyard and do damage to the vines as they feed on the fruit.  The devil is an opportunistic spoiler himself.  If he cannot kill or destroy, he tries to ruin our fruitfulness.  He ever seeks to gain entry to our minds and hearts through temptations or suggestions.  When we least expect it, he covertly works to gain a foothold through sin.  Instead of bearing the fruit of the Spirit, our spreading green leaves hide the truth even from our eyes.  We are to take captive all thoughts to the obedience of Christ (2 Cor. 10:5).  That is why we must intentionally ask God to search our hearts and see if there be anything keeping us from fruitfulness.  Expansive growth may be pretty, but it's pretty useless if fruit never grows to maturity!

The world spoon-feeds us gossip disguised as news, distracts us with busyness, barges into our thoughts with technology and media, and keeps us preoccupied or occupied with things of this world.  We may be careful to avoid spreading gossip with our lips, but how well do we avoid it with our eyes?  Those tasty trifles deal out great damage to all who swallow them.  Let us set a godly guard over our eyes and ears, for they have a direct line to our heart from which spring all the issues of life.  Instead of being defined about what we avoid, let us be those who walk in love so we might be fruitful.  Growing green leaves without pumpkins is like gaining knowledge without loving one another as Christ loves us.  Jesus has called us to bear fruit as it is written in John 15:16-17:  "You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. ¹⁷ These things I command you, that you love one another."  We love God because He first loved us.  It is walking in His love that makes us fruitful for His glory!