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Articles from May 2015

Bring on the Glory

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“This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.”

John 15:8

fruit_of_the_spirit_BLUE_GREENSWhat is your goal? I mean, what is the end game for you? I know at the end of my life, I want to stand before the Lord and hear Him say, “Well done.”

I also know I fall short of this every single day. I know I want to show myself to be His disciple, and I want to show His love to everyone I meet. But I know I don’t. I know I can be testy, irritable, impatient, and unkind. I know when I’m overwhelmed and frustrated and busy – in need of pruning.  I don’t exhibit the fruits of the Spirit – love, joy, peace, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, forbearance, gentleness and self-control.

This fruit that Jesus talks about in John 15 is never specified in this chapter as the same fruit Paul mentions in Galatians, but the word “fruit” is used in both instances. I don’t think that’s a coincidence. I think Jesus meant those traits when he said that bearing much fruit would show us to be His disciples and bring glory to His Father. Jesus tells us that if we allow the “Gardener” to prune us, and we remain in Him, the True Vine, this fruit will be produced in our lives, bringing glory to our God.

After all, that is what we were created for. To worship and bring glory to God. Isaiah 43:6-7 (NIV) reads: “I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’ and to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’ Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth—everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”

You were not a cosmic accident. You were not a random mass of cells that somehow formed a human. You were created on purpose, for a purpose. You were created by God to bring Him glory. Allow Him to prune you. Remain in Him. Wait for Him. Rely on Him as your source. Exhibit His fruit in your life so that you may bring Him glory and one day hear, “Well done.”

Remaining in Him,

Amy

Please Wait…

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“Remain in me, as I also remain in you.”

John 15:4, NIV

please_waitIf you don’t mind, I’d like to delve a little deeper into this part. Bear with me, because I think there’s something else here worth noting.

The original Greek word for remain is meno.  It’s interesting that it translates both to stay and to wait.  Staying is difficult enough for most of us. We get bored. We get frustrated. We want something new, something different. We’re ready to “move on.”

But waiting? That’s next to impossible. Our culture today emphasizes nothing if not immediate gratification. Technology can be amazing—you can send mail, pay bills, read your Bible, and even order pizza all on the same device with which you make phone calls! With the Internet on your smart phone, all the information in the world is at your fingertips. Remember the days of taking pictures, sending your film off to be developed, and waiting for the envelope of snapshots to come in? What about calling someone, and they weren’t home and didn’t have an answering machine, so you just had to call back? Anyone remember having to reheat leftovers in the oven or on the stovetop? Some of you probably do. A lot of you probably don’t.

The one downside to all this instant gratification is that our lives are so busy, so rushed, that we can’t recall (or have never known) how to sit back and chill.  We’ve lost the patience to simply wait. If Jesus doesn’t answer our prayers immediately, we feel rejected. But He reminds us that not only are we to remain in Him – to stay with Him – but we are to wait for Him. One of the fruits of the Spirit is forebearance. Some translations use patience instead. In other words, the ability to wait.

Jesus isn’t a smart phone app that’s going to respond the moment you tap it with your fingertip. Also, he’s not dependent on a good Internet connection or charged battery. If you remain in Him, trust Him, stay with Him and wait for Him, He will be the source you need. Guaranteed.

Remaining in Him,

Amy

Stay With Me.

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“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.”

John 15:4, NIV

start-with-jesus-stay-with-jesus-end-with-jesus-quote-1One of the definitions of “remain” in Merriam-Webster’s dictionary is “to stay in the same place with the same person or group.” Pretty simple. Or so it would seem.

But any of you who have or have had small children know this is not always so easy. How often have you been in a public place and told your children, “Stay with me,” and yet, you turn around, and they’ve wandered a few feet away, or even to another aisle where you can no longer see them? They have no concept of how dangerous it is to stray from you and the safety of your watchful eye.

We’re a lot like that, you know. We think we can “just go look at this” or “just step over here for a minute,” without thinking how dangerous it is to step away from Jesus. And just like a child who has wandered away from Mom and suddenly realizes he can no longer see her, we look up and realize just how far we’ve wandered from Him. He’s still there, just like the mom on the next aisle. We just can’t see Him at that moment. The difference is, He can still see us, and will patiently wait until we come back.

The Bible says “love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” (NIV)  are the “fruit of the Spirit.” If we, as branches, are to produce this fruit, we must remain in Him. That means we must stay in the same place with the same person – Jesus! With Him is not only the safest place to be, it’s the only place to be if you wish to bear fruit in your life.

He said so Himself.

“Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.” 

Remaining in Him,

Amy