Colossians 3:23 "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, and not for men."
John 15:5 "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing."
These are two of my favorite verses. I like the first one because it simply states that half hearted doesn't cut it and that our focus should be on God.
I like the second verse because it emphasizes that on our own we can do nothing, but the promise of bearing much fruit if we remain in Him and He in us.
If we "remain in Him" the byproduct of that is bearing fruit because our goal is not to bear fruit but to "remain in Him" and glorify Him. Thats when we are living in the overflow, and just reflecting His glory.
Our best efforts in and of ourselves will return void. So understanding that in all that we do we should work at it with all our heart as working for the Lord and that "our" works are fruitless unless he is the source.
Thoughts?
Andrew
3 comments:
Hey Andrew, I love those verses. Halfhearted doesn't cut it, when it comes to being blessed by God but not accepted by Him. That was taken care of at the cross. I know you know that. Christ modeled what it means to give it everything we have in any endeavor but more for, as you say, to glorify the Father. We can do plenty and be successful without God but it goes nowhere in eternity. What an empty reality! Yes, those verses we like reflect the value of looking ahead, to then, as if we live there now. Thank you for your thoughts Andrew.
I like Jerry's point, that "we can do plenty and be successful without God" as many have. As so, our goal isn't just about 'remaining with HIM, but very much about 'bearing fruit'. Good successful people that are not Christian bear fruit too don't they? So we need to grasp the type of fruit Jesus was talking about. Matthew 7:16 says "every good tree produces fine fruit, but every rotten tree produces worthless fruit...every tree not producing fine fruit gets cut down and thrown into the fire...Really, then, by their fruits YOU will recognize those [men]."
Therefore, since we can all produce fruits, we really need to know if we are producing fine fruit, or rotten fruit. First, Jesus was actually speaking of 'false' Chrisitan prophets (or religions), bearing rotten fruit. That means that in our day, as in the first century, there would be those claiming to be Christ-like, bearing fruit and good deeds, but their fruit would be "rotten"... to whom? To God, not to men. Men can accept rotten (so-called good deeds)fruit. God does not. Galatians 5:22 actually tells us the 'good fruit' that God requires us to bear, in our life, our actions, and in our worship. So yes, our 'bearing [fine] fruits' is paramount to remain with HIM. Thanks for reading.
Great responses.
I think with all three of them together we have a great thought going. In regards to the last comment. I really appreciate the verses you attached and how you elaborated on what was posted. Thanks for your time and thoughts.
Post a Comment