Roots before fruits

Have you ever felt frustrated at your lack of spiritual growth? Or perhaps you can see some progress, but you feel defeated because it’s taking longer than you’d like? 

If so, Walter Adams has some food for thought. He says: “Look after the roots, and the fruits will look after themselves.”*

Let’s look more closely at his metaphor, and then how it relates to our spiritual progress.

An unhealthy or dead tree doesn’t produce fruit. Only a healthy tree can do that. Jesus says this very thing in Matthew 7:18: “A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit.” Makes sense.

When it comes to people, our “fruit” is the evidence of our faith. Paul uses this same language in Galatians 5:22-23. That’s where he talks about the “fruit” of the Holy Spirit working through us. These are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. 

As people, our “roots” are a bit more difficult to identify. What are they? Thankfully, the apostle Peter provides some clarifying information in 2 Peter 1. He makes a direct connection between knowing Jesus and being spiritually productive (i.e. fruit-producing). In other words, our “roots” are our knowledge of Jesus. The deeper they go, the more spiritually healthy we are.

This isn’t only about head knowledge. The word he uses (Greek: epignosis) implies a knowledge that is intimidate, deep and precise. 

My point is this: Roots before fruits. If we want spiritual fruit in our lives—qualities like love, joy, peace, patience, etc.—we need to look after our relationship with Christ. 

Learn about Jesus, deeply. 
Ponder his ways, carefully. 
Listen for God, attentively. 
Seek his will, honestly. 

“A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit.” 

Roots before fruits.

Notes:

-“When it comes to virtue, roots before fruits” Click here. Sermon.

-*Quoted in: Ryan Skoog, Peter Greer, and Cameron Doolittle, Lead with Prayer: The Spiritual Habits of World-Changing Leaders (Nashville: Faith Words, 2025), xxv.

-Bible quotes, ESV.