You Fruit Basket, You!

BUT what kind of fruit basket are you!
In something I heard the other day it was mentioned ....what kind of fruit are we...and it got me thinking....not bananas, apples etc (though I have been known to be a bit "bananas' at times)

It was mentioned....plastic, rotten....and I thought....not quite ripe or full, rich, sweet and ready to be shared!

I am probably sounding a bit "fruity" now (sorry, it is one of those days)
I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.  He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love.  I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. This is my command: Love each other. John 15:1-17 

First of all, there is NO fruit without Jesus.  He said Himself, that we can bear no fruit unless we remain in HIM.  We MUST BE in HIM and remain in Him and His words must be in us. For His word to be IN us we must "ingest" it..."feed on it" daily.  Read your bible often!
With Christ in our lives we are "appointed" to go out a bear fruit...that will last...meaning things that have eternal consequence, things that further the Kingdom, that spread God's love.

By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them Matthew 7:16-20

How are we recognized??
Is our fruit rotten; Are our attitudes and actions miserable, unkind, unsharing, we are prickly to those around us.  We lack mercy and grace and compassion, we lack Christ.
OR we do have Christ but...
is our fruit plastic; false, insincere.  We look good, dressed in our Sunday best singing the hymns loudly...maybe our hands in the air, but it isn't real, it is just a plastic shell.
OR
is our fruit not ripe; we have the potential but we are not tending the soil, giving Living Water, feeding our fruit so it will grow
OR
are you full and sweet and ready to be shared!  Are you partaking of the Living Water daily, and tending your soil? Are you ready and willing to let the sweetness of Christ in you spill out on all around you?

For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth) and find out what pleases the Lord. Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.  It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret.  Ephesians 5:8-12

Our source, the source of our fruit, needs to come from the Light, from heaven!

But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace reap a harvest of righteousness.  James 3:17-18

So today...(which is a day late...I apologize)
What kind of fruit are we?  I pray that you are ripe, full of sweetness and ready to share!