Step Up

Matthew 13:^6&8 “But when the sun came up, it burned the young plants; and because the roots had not grown deep enough, the plants soon dried up…  But some seeds fell in good soil, and the plants bore grain: some had one hundred grains, others sixty, and others thirty.”

John 15:⁴ “…A branch cannot produce any fruit by itself. It has to stay attached to the vine. In the same way, you cannot produce fruit unless you live in me.” (GW, emphasis added). The life is in the vine, and the fruit comes from the roots. What kind of fruit do I need to bear when I am connected to not just the temple of God, not just the body of Christ, but to the True Vine? What kind of fruit do I need to produce? Galatians 5:^22-23 “But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!” (emphasis added). Would you like to have this kind of beautiful fruit in your life? Yes? You only get it by being connected.

You will notice that most of them are relational fruit. Take love for example, can you love or even learn to love by yourself? You cannot. Some of us have lived a selfish life and when we come into a relationship, that selfishness becomes a problem. Can you be patient all by yourself? Is that even possible? You can only learn patience in relationships. Kindness, goodness, and faithfulness too. How do you know you are faithful to someone? How do you learn loyalty? It is in relationships, in connections. You cannot be a faithful or loyal spouse if you are not married or you are not connected. What proves your loyalty is being in a marriage relationship and loyalty is a big issue. Similarly, you cannot be gentle all by yourself, in your own corner. That gentleness will be tried when someone else ruffles you up. That is when you know if you are really gentle. The benefit of being connected to the organic vine is, getting God’s power to be fruitful.

#4. The church connects me to God’s Family. A Christian without a church family is an orphan because what you need more than anything else is a family, a church family. Romans 8:¹⁶ “God’s Spirit joins himself to our spirits to declare that we are God’s children.” (GNT, emphasis added).  Connection! 1 Timothy 3:¹⁵ “I want you to know how people who are members of God’s family must live. God’s family is the church…” (GW, emphasis added). There are some family rules, responsibilities, guidelines, and family benefits. Christians do not behave anyhow, like tyrants, or like miscreants. So if you are just attending church, I want to challenge you to take the big step from being an attender to a member, from being a believer to a belong-er, from being a consumer to a contributor, and from being a spectator to a participator. Take the step!

Prayer: Father, even as I stay connected to the power of Christ and to God’s family, help me to take my next steps and produce fruit, in the Mighty Name of Jesus. Amen!