“There is a great difference between successfulness and fruitfulness. Success comes from strength, control, and respectability. A successful person has the energy to create something, to keep control over its development, and to make it available in large quantities. Success brings many rewards and often fame. Fruits, however, come from weakness and vulnerability. And fruits are unique. A child is the fruit conceived in vulnerability, community is the fruit born through shared brokenness, and intimacy is the fruit that grows through touching one another’s wounds. Let’s remind one another that what brings us true joy is not successfulness but fruitfulness.”
When I came across this quote from Henri Nouwen in a devotional, it gave me pause. I read it several times and even took a photo of it and sent it to my co-workers. It is very apropos for the work we do as a nonprofit. We aren’t chasing after success in our mission to serve cancer patients with the Gospel, but fruitfulness.
Yet how often do we, as well-meaning Christians working and living in this world, get this wrong, adopting a mindset that measures numeric growth in our churches or ministries as “success.” We congratulate ourselves in thinking that we must be doing something right, otherwise so many people wouldn’t be attending our church/Sunday School/Bible Study/Youth Group/etc.
Rather, we (myself included) need to transform our thinking, of seeing fruitfulness as more meaningful (and more eternal) than success?
How do we do that? How do we pursue fruitfulness rather than success, not just in our careers or ministries, but also in our personal growth toward holiness? The first step is by exploring the differences between success and fruitfulness.
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1. Success is borne from man’s performance. Fruitfulness is borne from the Spirit’s power.
1. Success is borne from man’s performance. Fruitfulness is borne from the Spirit’s power.
Success of any kind—personal or professional—is typically linked to one’s performance. Achievement in physicality, academia, or career is directly attributed to a person’s hard work and personal dedication. The world approves, admires, and respects the pro athletes, the highly educated, the sought-after motivational speaker, and the high-net-worth CEOs. They idolize their discipline and perseverance—their “sweat equity” and “stick-to-itiveness”—and, yes, the fame and fortune that it brought them.
It is the Spirit’s power, however, that produces fruitfulness, not man’s efforts. As born-again believers, we have been chosen and appointed by God to bear fruit—“fruit that will last” (John 15:16), and we do so only through the indwelling and empowerment of the Helper who lives within us.
Furthermore, the fruit we bear contrasts to the world’s. Worldly success typically generates egotism, selfishness, ambition, hardness, and ruthlessness. Believers, on the other hand, bear fruit that is in keeping with Christian character (Galatians 5:22-23; Ephesians 4:2, 32). Our fruitfulness also manifests in bearing children (Genesis 1:28), sharing the Gospel and making disciples (Proverbs 11:30; Matthew 28:19-20), honoring God with the “first fruits” of our labors (tithing) (Malachi 3:10-11), accepting divine discipline for sin and the strategic “pruning” of ungodly relationships and behaviors (Proverbs 3:11-12), and abounding in good works (Ephesians 2:10, Colossians 1:10).
Being fruitful in these areas, Jesus said, prove that we truly are his disciples, and that we belong to God, not the world (John 15:8).
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2. Success is borne from man’s pride. Fruitfulness is borne out of humility.
2. Success is borne from man’s pride. Fruitfulness is borne out of humility.
“What we achieve brings us success, gives us a sense of pride, makes our families and friends proud of us, and gives us a feeling of being worthwhile, singular, and important. We’ve done something. We’ve left a mark. We’ve been recognized. And along with those awards, trophies, academic degrees, certificates of distinction, things we’ve built, and artifacts we’ve left behind comes public recognition and respect. We’ve made it. We’re recognized,” writes Ron Rolheiser. “Great achievement can give us a good feeling and can make our families and loved ones proud of us. But those feelings of accomplishment and pride are not a lasting or deeply nourishing fruit. Indeed, the good feeling that accomplishment gives us is often a drug, an addiction, which forever demands more of us.”
Pride in one’s self and accomplishments drives worldly success and the hunger for it, as Rolheiser posits. Success is insatiable. Pride will never know enough success. Pride will never stop until it is either too late for a reversal or when something tragic happens to bring the person to the end of themselves and open their eyes.
Humility, on the other hand, drives fruitfulness. Humility is borne of dependence on the Spirit and not our own efforts. Humility is knowing that we can do nothing apart from Jesus Christ (John 15:5). Humility is living like Jesus, as a servant who came not to be served but to selflessly serve others (Matthew 20:28).
“Achievement helps us stand out,” says Rolheiser, “[but] fruitfulness brings blessing into other people’s lives. Our fruitfulness is often the result not so much of the great things we accomplish but of the graciousness, generosity, and kindness we bring into the world,” Rolheiser says.
Fruitfulness, Nouwen amends, is also borne out of our vulnerability. “Precisely where we are weakest and often most broken and most needy,” he says, “precisely there can be the ground of our fruitfulness.”
3. Success is fleeting and never guaranteed. Fruit produces more fruit in perpetuity.
One can work hard, be determined, and put in long, hard hours, but success may still allude them. Not everyone who sets out to succeed in a sport, at school, in their career, will succeed. They may, in fact, fail, and fail miserably. Success by worldly standards is fleeting and never guaranteed. Chasing it can be exhausting.
Not so with godly fruit. Since it is borne of the Spirit, godly fruit produces itself in perpetuity. As we remain connected to Christ, we act as witnesses of Jesus’s life, light, and love. This often attracts others to Jesus, who in turn believe in him as their Savior, and they then become witnesses, and so on, and so on.
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4. Success is measured by tangible metrics. Fruitfulness is measured by faithfulness.
4. Success is measured by tangible metrics. Fruitfulness is measured by faithfulness.
Worldly success is scalable, measured by financial and non-financial metrics such as revenue growth, market value, working capital, and customer satisfaction.
There aren’t necessarily tangible metrics to measure fruitfulness, however. In fact, there are times when our fruitfulness isn’t noticeable. Many of us may never see the “fruits of our labors” until we reach heaven.
This was the case with some of the Old Testament prophets. Some labored all their lives—Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel—and never saw one person turn from their wicked ways to follow God, while others did—Jonah, Zechariah, and Haggai.
Would we say then that those prophets who saw converts were more successful than those who didn’t? Of course not.
Fruitfulness is “measured” not by numbers but by the faithfulness of the Christian servant to God’s calling. We work as “unto the Lord,” and we leave the results in God’s hands (1 Corinthians 3:6).
Rolheiser says, “While death may be the end of our success, productivity, and importance, it isn’t necessarily the end of our fruitfulness. Indeed, often, our true fruitfulness occurs only after we die when our spirit can finally flow out more purely… Our full fruitfulness will only show after we have died.”
Says Nouwen, “We belong to a generation that wants to see the results of our work. We want to be productive and see with our own eyes what we have made. But that is not the way of God’s Kingdom. Often, our witness for God does not lead to tangible results. Jesus himself died as a failure on the cross. There was no success there to be proud of. Still, the fruitfulness of Jesus’ life is beyond any human measure. As faithful witnesses of Jesus, we have to trust that our lives, too, will be fruitful, even though we cannot see their fruit. The fruit of our lives may be visible only to those who live after us. What is important is how well we love. God will make our love fruitful, whether we see that fruitfulness or not.”
In short, God calls us to be faithful and to leave the fruitfulness of our faithfulness to him. “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving” (Colossians 3:23-24).
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5. Success results in tangible earthly rewards. Fruitfulness’ rewards are eternal.
5. Success results in tangible earthly rewards. Fruitfulness’ rewards are eternal.
Worldly rewards manifest in tangible ways: verbal or written praise from others, elevated status in the community, promotions in the workplace, and bonuses for outstanding performance. Not that these are bad. They are not. But they are not things (at least for a believer) they can take to heaven with them. They are rewards to be enjoyed as earthly blessings in that moment. Because they are typically not sustainable, however, they must be sought after and worked hard for, again and again.
Fruitfulness, on the other hand, results in “treasures” and the symbolic “crown of life,” which are kept securely in heaven for our eternal enjoyment (Matthew 6:20, James 1:12). Our rewards borne from our fruitfulness, while they may be enjoyed in the here and now, mostly await us in the hereafter, where, Henri Nouwen says, is “true joy.”
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4 Ways to Bear More Fruit
4 Ways to Bear More Fruit
1. Abide in Christ
“If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing… I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last” (John 15:5, 16).
“A branch must stay firmly attached to the trunk to stay alive. As disciples of Christ, we must stay firmly connected to Him to remain spiritually productive. A branch draws strength, nourishment, protection, and energy from the vine. If it is broken off, it quickly dies and becomes unfruitful. When we neglect our spiritual life, ignore the Word of God, skimp on prayer, and withhold areas of our lives from the scrutiny of the Holy Spirit, we are like a branch broken off the vine. Our lives become fruitless” (Gotquestions.org).
As GotQuestions posits, the fruit we produce is only because of our continual attachment to Christ. Once detached from Christ (i.e., deconstructing our faith, apostasy, habitual, unconfessed sin), we wither from lack of spiritual nourishment. If our detachment continues, it will lead to devastating eternal consequences (John 15:6).
2. Nourish Yourself
“Remaining in Christ” is a cooperative endeavor, indicated by “If a man remains in me.” Remaining implies a relationship that requires diligence from both parties. Our part involves being proactive in nourishing ourselves by reading God’s Word consistently (Psalm 119:11), praying (Matthew 6:6), and attending church (Hebrews 10:25).
Fruitfulness cannot happen apart from Christ and these spiritual disciplines. They work in tandem to sustain us and sanctify us.
3. Follow God’s Lead
“If we substitute following our culture´s definition of success for following God´s voice, I believe we will never reach our full potential or make the contribution the world so desperately needs,” writes Mary T. Lederleitner in “Women in God’s Mission.”
The world, with its siren call to succeed, will always lead us astray from God’s intended purpose for our lives, which is to glorify him and do good to and for others. We do this with Spirit-appointed gifts, and we serve wherever God leads us, even if it doesn’t prove seemingly unfruitful. No matter. Our “fruitfulness” again is in our faithfulness in following God, not the world.
4. Keep Your Eyes on the Prize
Our purpose and calling are not to see fruit, per se, but to be fruitful. So don’t become discouraged if you don’t see growth from your labors in the Lord. Don’t fixate on numbers in your church or ministry, on the positive responses to sharing the Gospel, or on receiving praise from others for serving sacrificially.
Rather, fix your eyes on eternity, when the truest reward of your fruitfulness will come upon death, when you hear those wonderful words, “Well done, good and faithful servant…enter into the joy of your Lord” (Matthew 25:21).
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Originally published June 13, 2025.
