“He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit:” (John 15:5)
Clara Peller was a manicurist who, at the age of 81, was hired to be in a commercial and ended up having her short, three-word speaking part become one of the most iconic phrases of all time! It was a 1984 commercial launched by the fast-food chain Wendy’s.
The commercial portrayed a fictional fast-food competitor called “Big Bun”, where three elderly ladies are served an enormous hamburger bun containing a tiny little hamburger patty. While two of the women are commenting on the size of the bun, they are interrupted by 81 year Peller, who looks down at the tiny burger and yells out, “Where’s the beef?”
The phrase became a part of American pop culture. After that commercial aired, people everywhere were saying, “Where’s the beef?” When something didn’t seem to live up to the hype, or when a person didn’t get what they were expecting, they would say, “Where’s the beef?”
I wonder if many times God doesn’t look down at our lives and say, “Where’s the fruit?” Where is the evidence of a Spirit-filled, daily walk with God? We say we have been saved. We say that the Holy Spirit lives within us, but where’s the fruit?
Unbelievers do not bear fruit. So when WE do not produce the fruit of the Spirit, our lives resemble the life of an unbeliever more than the life of a Christian.
So, what’s the answer? How can we bear fruit in our lives? Notice what Jesus said, again. He said, “He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit:” The secret to bearing fruit is to abide in Christ.
The word “abide” means to continue or remain. The more we continue, walking in obedience to God’s Word, the more fruit our lives will produce.
Where’s the beef? I don’t know. But I know where the fruit is; it is in the life of a believer who is walking in fellowship with Jesus!