I understand now what Jesus meant by "Thus you will know them by their fruits".
Notice He doesn't say you will know them by their actions or by their behavior. He uses the idea of fruit for a very good reason. You see, a good man will naturally produce good and an evil man will naturally produce evil. "For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks".
Can you pick grapes from a bramble bush? How then can good fruit come from someone who has dedicated their life to Christ? If a good man, out of his good treasure, brings forth good, then what need is there in dedication and striving? Should not the work actually be then to simply remain in Christ?
Jesus said if you continue in His Word, you are His disciples indeed. What is His Word? Is it not the gospel? Why do we leave to Vine in order to try and produce something good for God? Is it not finished? Is He not also our sanctification and redemption, along with our salvation? Or does God's grace simply stop at the cross? Does it not go on to the resurrection?
This is very hard for me to articulate. But I hope and pray to God that this truth of the fruit of the Spirit would be a reality in my life. That I would simply "be" and cease striving and worrying.
5 comments:
YES, this is awesome!!!!!! Whoa, I'll have to read this one again and again.
Thanks for sharing!
I'm glad you were encouraged by it. It was clear in my head, but writing it out was difficult. I wanted to write more, but I felt that it's the Spirits job to reveal things so I just let it be.
Very good post! I just have to say that as I read it, some things struck me - you know, like you said they were clear in my head. But when I tried to figure it out again I lost it! I'll also have to read it over and again, and let the Spirit reveal to me what He wants to. :)
Good post! I'm reminded of when I was a child. Like every child I wanted to be a grown-up; to drive, to make my own decisions, to stay up as late as I wanted, to go where I wanted. But no matter how much I tried, I couldn't speed up time. Trying to grow physically is much like trying to grow spiritually or trying to produce fruit. It doesn't come by effort. How much of our joy is lost trying to be something we are not; by being discontent with where we are in our spiritual growth; by focusing on doing or growing instead of just "being."
What you said, Gary is sooo important. Believers (especially myself) are in such a hurry to grow up that they don't have time to enjoy being a child and soaking in their Father's love.
I was thinking the other day about the parable of the four soils and the ones who had no root made me think of people who get saved, join the church, and right then they're sent out to slave away. And so they "immediately spring up" but are scorched. They burn out.
We're so consumed with doing, that we aren't allowed to love God.
Post a Comment