All We Can?

“You are My friends if you do what I command.” (John 15:14 NLT)

How much of what you or I do in an average day is done for us? How much for the Lord? What has He asked of me or you that we’ve ignored or postponed? You know what that is, right? It’s NOT doing what He commands us to do. It’s sin.

A few verses before the one above in John 15, Jesus uses the term “remain” nine times in six verses. And just to be clear, “remain” means to obey, to stay at the task assigned, to do what we’re commanded to do. And what happens if we get lax and decide we’d rather do what we want to do? Verse 2 explains what the Father does: “I am the true grapevine, and My Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch of Mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and He prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more.”

What happens to the “branches” that are removed? Verse 6 explains: “Anyone who does not remain in Me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned.”

We wonder why our lives aren’t bearing more fruit or why the church in America has grown so ineffective. Could it be because we’re withering branches waiting to be burned? As illustrated in Genesis 6, God’s Spirit will not put up with our sin forever. We want to believe because we said a prayer and live what we consider to be a “good life” that we’re good to go with God.

In much the same way as I believe that behind the saving grace of every saved person was someone praying, I believe behind every person who isn’t saved is someone NOT praying. I also believe that behind every suffering child, every gap in the care of hurting people all over the world, lost people groups, the proliferation of evil in every sector of societies across our world, are “people of God” more concerned about themselves than others.

We’re NOT loving well! We’re NOT being obedient to our Commander in Chief! Let me be more to the point: I’m not being as obedient and submissive to the Lord’s directives as I must be if the Lord is going to be able to make use of my life and I so want Him to. I think for years I was hanging to the Lord’s “vine” by a thread.

The Lord cuts us a lot of slack, but there comes a point, especially now when the clock is ticking and time is literally running out. This is no time to set back and relax, it’s time to roll up our sleeves and be about our Father’s business with more energy and enthusiasm than ever before. And I’m not concerned about my or your age. If we have breath, we have something to give; some vital way to influence someone’s life for Jesus.

We can’t slow down or quit, there’s too much at stake. Yes, of course, we can ask God to “bless the world” or “bless all the lost people.” But there’s no way we can see an answer for that prayer. He IS blessing the world! He is blessing lost people if He’s allowing them to have life. We need to shrink our world and begin using names of people with whom WE can follow up and “track” whether or not they’re getting the information they need to make a decision for Jesus.

Here’s the bottom line: Am I, are YOU, doing all we can to submit to Christ’s authority in our lives? Are we obedient to His directives? Are we following through with those for whom we’re praying to see if there’s anything we can do to help them make a decision for Jesus before it’s eternally too late?

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊