He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. John 15:5
Weeks ago I stumbled upon a phrase, "our effectiveness in ministry is relative to our closeness to Jesus, ” and I thought at the time, “What a wonderfully true sentiment!” After all, any effective ministry is borne out of a deepening relationship with Christ Jesus. Having said that, today I re-stumbled upon this Bible verse from John 15 realizing that it paints a truer picture.
When I read this piece of scripture I envision myself sawing a limb off an apple tree. Should I have any expectation that fruit will now grow from that limb? Of course not. Might I expect growth if I take that same branch and hold it but a centimeter from the tree, or better yet, prop it against the trunk? No. I would have no fruitful expectations.It is obvious to everyone that in order for fruit to appear, the branch must be attached or grafted back in—closeness does not count. John 15:5 demonstrates practically that my catchy little phrase missed the mark--closeness, it seems is not the same as being attached.
Semanticist
Arguably, this is merely a case of semantics, since those ‘in’ Christ likely consider themselves to be close to Him as well. In that respect I would agree. But the danger exists when a person falsely believes that because there is an appearance of closeness they actually are close. Showing others your picture taken with a celebrity would be an example: “Why yes, me and Bruce Springsteen are very close friends!”
Similarly, we might pray daily, go to church weekly, and fast monthly, but unless we are grafted into the branch, we are no more than limbs leaning up against trees—we appear close, but in reality we’re miles and miles away.
Show me the fruit
We all know plenty of folks who claim closeness to Jesus, but through the years there is no fruit. Oh, they might believe and love Him, but they are not in Him, and He is not in them—if He were there would be fruit all around that trunk. And what does fruit look like?
We can start here:By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another. John 13:35
COMPASSION dave
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1 comment:
Great post...and thanks for your comment on my blog yesterday. I definitely feel that God has been leading me to be a sponsor since the first time I heard about Compassion a few years ago and I'm glad I finally took the step. Thanks for your encouragement and I did add your blog to my sidebar. Thanks again for taking time to comment!
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