In your quest to make sense of your life and foster an authentic spirituality you’ve found some resonance with the story of Jesus the Christ. You’re on a journey… a pilgrim. Well, look out because you’re in for the adventure of a lifetime.
Full devotion to God is normal for every follower of Jesus.
There is no hierarchy of people or jobs we are all equal before God. And God expects the same thing from each of us. So . . . what does God expect?
God expects one thing. For us to live with him, Christianity is a holistic lifestyle. The Bible uses the phrase “To abide with Him” (John 15). Jesus used a gardening metaphor to illustrate this point.
He said, picture a grapevine. For a branch to produce grapes, it’s got to stay connected to the vine. If a branch gets cut off, it’s not going to produce any fruit. However, if the branch “abides” in the vine, then the fruit is inevitable.
Jesus was saying that if you will just stay connected to God, then God will do the work of producing “fruit” in your life. He will do the transforming work. All you need to do is choose to abide with Him.
The goal of the follower is that he or she becomes like the leader Jesus. For that to happen the follower must know Jesus first doing life together is a must. As you abide with Jesus, he promises to make you like him. He promises to produce “fruit.” The fruit, which is the very life and character of Jesus; fruit like love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. He promises to guide us to live lives marked by faith, hope and love. Ultimately, the “trademark” of Christ-followers is love. Not fitting some kind of label, not a certain political stance, not having a fish on their cars’ bumper, nor a cross around their neck, simply love.
Jesus said that the whole world would recognize His followers by seeing their love. When Jesus summed up the entire Bible and its teaching He said, “Love the Lord your God and love your neighbor as yourself.” That’s what following Jesus is all about loving God and loving people.
So. How goes your transformation? How is your experience of community? Are you looking more like Jesus? Are you connecting deeply with others?
Ask your self:
- Am I growing in my ability to give and receive love from God and from other people?
- Am I sensing God communicating to me that I am His child?
- Am I learning to love what God loves and hate what he hates?
- Am I ordering my life to stay close to God?
- Am I becoming more like Jesus?
peace, dwight
