What does it really mean to be a productive Christian? In our culture, we tend to expect things to be fast. We expect things to happen exactly when we want them to and how we want them to. This isn't typical of what we can expect to see with Jesus. We actually see the opposite. We need to learn to spend quality time with Jesus. It isn't enough to expect things to be fast and just visit with Jesus. We need to be able to be consistent in our relationship with God and be ready to spend time and hang out with God.
John 15:6 CSB
If anyone does not remain in me, he is thrown aside like a branch and he withers. They gather them, throw them into the fire, and they are burned.
We are called to be a productive Christian for the glory of God. We can't do that if we can't figure out how to spend quality time with him. A regular dose of Jesus can never be enough! We need more of Him than we think we do, especially if we plan to be productive and produce fruit for Him. Fruit has many health benefits, and not to mention it is also delicious!! Fruit can be so beneficial for many things, so why wouldn't we be eating as much fruit as we can? We treat Jesus the same way. We know He has a good plan for us, and we know He loves us, but we don't listen to Him the way we know we should.
In John 15:6 above, we see that we are supposed to abide in the vine so that fruit can be produced through our lives. We can't be the fruitful Christian we are called to be without learning to stop and abide in Jesus. God is only pleased with the fruit that He grows, not with the fruit that you can grow. We need God in our lives to help us accomplish anything good. The fruit that is produced by God is much better than anything we could ever do. The sooner we understand this principle, the sooner we can get on the right track. As Christians we have to learn to follow God's lead in our life and let him lead us down the path He has in store for us.
John 15:2 CSB
Every branch in me that does not produce fruit he removes, and he prunes every branch that produces fruit so that it will produce more fruit.
What type of fruit should we be producing? We should be producing a high quality of fruit taht shows people God's character and love through your life. Anything less than that is not good enough. What kind of fruit do you think you are producing?
No fruit: Those who have no fruit are the ones taht are not obeying God. They are so attached to their worldly possessions that they can't bring themselves to lead a life that is consistent with God's will for their lives.
More fruit: God prunes the branches taht don't produce so that more fruit can be produced. God can see what is competing with Him in our lives and will remove them. He is pruning our lives so taht we can produce more for Him. If we aren't careful, we can get upset about the things He is removing, and we can miss the fact that He is removing things in our lives for our benefit.
Much fruit: God wants us in a position where we have such a strong relationship with Him that we are able to abide in Him regularly. This is when we are following God's calling in our life and are constantly bringing Him glory.
Can you honestly say that you are consistent in abiding with Jesus? If you get serious about it, you will see your life changed in ways that you never imagined. That doesn't mean it will be easy. There will be some work involved. You may have to change your lifestyle, your friends, your thoughts. But man, if the church really understood this principle and put it into practice, your relationship with God would be at a much higher level. From that relationship, we would be able to change the lives of the people around us.
If we choose not to abide in Jesus, we are choosing to put ourselves in the no fruit category. Do you want to be someone that consciously disobeys God? Or do you want to be someone who is trying to grow and learn to abide in Jesus?
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