Tag: serve the lord

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Fake, Dead or Alive?

krisshetter 
"By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples."  John 15:8

My pastor yesterday asked a very controversial question of our congregation and the results were surprising to me. ”Raise your hand if you have a fake tree. Now raise your hand if you have a real tree.” The majority of people have a fake tree. I, however, will always have a real tree gracing my living room! He went on to talk about how a real tree is really just a dead tree cut off from the earth.  He used this analogy to talk about dead faith and not abiding in God. 

However, I wondered, how many Christians out there are actually relying on a “fake faith?” A faith in which we go through the motions and do all the right volunteering and giving. We pray and do Bible Studies. And yet, we also despise our neighbor or that person who hurt us years ago. Forgiveness? Forget about it! We compare ourselves to others, especially during the Christmas season. We give to charities but ignore the person in need that’s right in front of us! We play victim that no one gives us the attention we need and deserve. We make excuses for our language, our thoughts. We look so much like the world but “at least we go to church.”

Today was the first day of my challenge to love and serve others. I wonder how you did? Did you stop and help a person struggling to get a cart loose from the cart corral? Did you let someone go ahead of you in line at the grocery store — without feeling like you deserved a badge? Did you help out that person at work who just is so annoying? But you did it with love? Send a comment about what you did in His name without any benefit to you! 

Yesterday, as my church continues through the book of John we focused on John 15:1-17. It’s the famous verses on Jesus declaring Himself to be the vine and His disciples being the branches.

When my husband and I left church I asked Him what new things he learned. He hadn’t realized that Jesus was the root stock and we are the branches that grow out of that stock along the strings which the “vine dresser” makes. As Jesus’ branches we can only exist as an outgrowth of Him. I shared that I learned that the verse John 15:2 isn’t what I originally thought:

"Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit." John 15:2

On face value this seems a bit scary. We think we need to work really hard at serving the Lord, serving others and bringing people to Christ. It may seem so difficult that we don’t even try. Or we make halfhearted attempts to love the Lord by serving others. And if the fruits of our labor aren’t successful then chop, chop! But the words “takes away” in Greek actually are “airo,” meaning to elevate. So the Father doesn’t cut off believers when they supposedly fail. No, in His loving and glorious way He picks us up off the ground and gently puts us back along His life giving strings. It is only those folks who consciously choose to hate God that get cut off. (John 15:6). 

True love for Jesus, true “abiding in Him” means thinking on Him every minute of the day. It means asking Him when we wake up to place people in front of us to serve. It means before we head out to work that we ask Him to help you be at peace in traffic and to guide you in being kind and loving to those challenging people you encounter. It means when you are tasked with something difficult you immediately turn to Him for strength and wisdom.

We glorify God when we tap into every ounce of power and wisdom He has available to us. Like an inert seed placed in the ground, it can’t do anything without the soil around it, the water to feed it, and the sun to give it life. WE are that seed. And when we stay close to the Lord we grow and produce fruit, not on our own, but because of the work He has done through us.

Jesus’ love and care for us produces fruit. Our love and abiding in Him gives Him the opportunity to serve the flock. And the results for us personally? 

"If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full." John 15:10-11

And I don’t know about you but I want and need joy in my life. A joy that is so deep and everlasting that only our Glorious Savior can provide. Let us all, as we approach the celebration of our Lord’s birth this week remember to abide so closely in Him. Allow Him to shine out of you so brightly that the world wants to know more.

Soli Deo Gloria

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At Home With God

krisshetter 
“Yet he (Abraham) did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God.”  Romans 4:20

Holy God, everything I have belongs to you — my home, my car, my food, my marriage, my family. Help me to use them in service to you each day so I can proclaim Your glory and the wonderful work you have done in my life. Amen

I’d have to say one of the first obvious signs that I was submitting to God and giving Him authority over my life was years ago when my brother-in-law came to visit us and wanted to bring his girlfriend.  We had two small children and my husband and I decided we needed to model God’s morals by telling his brother that although she could come, they couldn’t sleep in the same room together.  He laughed, thinking we were joking.  But when we affirmed our decision, he asked how we could decide that when we, ourselves, had lived together before marriage.  It’s an easy answer actually.  We were now Christians with children to whom we were responsible for modeling God’s will.

Here’s the thing, Christian, it’s ok, even necessary in God’s act of progressive revelation, to change our minds.  To grow in our faith.  To set up new boundaries.  Especially in our own homes.  For Abraham, mentioned in our first verse today, he struggled to align his entire household with God.  He made bad decisions about his wife, he had to make peace among his family, he was faced with the prospect of sacrificing his son to the Lord.  But He kept moving forward in his faith.  With each step he learned more about God’s expectations of him and he guided his family and home toward God’s promises.  He set history on the right path by giving glory to God over and over. Joshua carried this forward when he assembled all the tribes of Israel.

"15 But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” Joshua 24:15

Our home spaces are the perfect place to glorify God.  Why? Because when we stand in our home, every blessing we can see belongs to Him.  The home, apartment, tent, condo, all belong to God.  The food in the cupboards, the furnishings, the beds, the indoor (or outdoor) plumbing – yes, all belong to Him and should be used in His service to glorify Him.

My two oldest friends are unfortunately not believers.  And over these last few years I’ve had the Holy Spirit convict me of my behavior when I’m around them.  I need to show them the work God has done in me.  When they are at my house, I must model God.  That means I shouldn’t allow certain behavior or speech within the walls of my house.  I fail at times when I let myself be pulled into the world of unbelievers.  Sometimes I forget to pray over our meal, I drift into outraged political discussions, and I gossip.  My first step was realizing what I was doing doesn’t honor God.  My second step is to be more consistent in application.

Friend, if the Lord has blessed you with a comfortable place to lay your head each night, a place to make a life for your family, a home to provide hospitality to others, we need to remember it was all given for a purpose.  If we struggle to honor God in our home, how can we be expected to receive further responsibility from Him outside our homes?  So today, stand in the middle of the place you call home and proclaim it is all for His glory.