What it is to be Fruitful

Christians, we're at war. Its a terrible thing, but we must understand that we wage a war against sin daily. You must understand that at any time God can remove us from this world and bring us to his kingdom (The Rapture). God wants us removed from the muck of this world, but he is so loving and full of grace that he leaves us in this world to share his love with others. It is through this process that we glorify God. We are so utterly unworthy of the purification and healing he provided us through his son, but his love for his children ignores our sinful nature. His love provides us with a new nature, and goes so far that he allows us time on earth to share his love with others, so that Jesus Christ may be glorified through them.

Yet some of you stand in your Christian life, and do not run, nor walk. You were once drowned in sin, yet someone tossed you the rope of Gods love, and offered you a way out of the muck. It was simple; they shared Gods love with you and you accepted it, thus providing you a new nature to deal with your old sinful one.

Remember the feeling of completeness? The overflowing joy that’s received upon knowing Jesus Christ as lord and savior? Remember how the holy spirit cleansed you of drugs, sex, anger, lying, debt, or even depression? God may have used one person to expose his love to you, and that one person made a world of a difference in your life. Gods love even pushes further to the point he provided you a sacrifice to pin your sins against and start over (Jesus Christ), and a Holy Spirit to guide you away from your old nature and into a new glorious and righteous one.

Yet instead of running in your Christian life, you stand still. Someone had the courage to share the seed, yet you grow fruitless, with nothing to share. It was someone’s love from God and Gods love for them that provided you with the most satisfying fruit possible.
We all are incomplete before Jesus. We're all starving. We try to feed our hunger through things of this world (sex, drugs, money), yet this hunger never ceases. It may be momentarily fed, but the hunger continues. Remember that hunger? Remember what worldly things you fed it? Yet this hunger stretches beyond the worldly stage. Its a spiritual hunger, one that can only be fed with the fruit of knowing God. It can only be feed by knowing the Father.

Yet how can you satisfy this hunger if you've never been provided this fruit? If you’ve never even heard of its existence? Luckily, someone understood that “as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing" (John 15:4,5). Someone understood that the only way to grow that fruit that quenches that spiritual hunger, is to abide in Jesus Christ, who we grow through. Yet they also understood that "Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away" (John 15:2). This means that Jesus commands that we be fruitful, so that our fruit may quench others hungers, and thus join them to the vine that is Jesus. If we are standing still in our Christian life, and going nowhere, than we are preventing ourselves from being fruitful.

How do we stand still and prevent ourselves from growing? We do this by being mute and blind. Jesus commanded that we “let our light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16, NIV). This means we must stop playing defense in this worldly war, and start taking on the offensive role. We must stop flipping the switch in our own lives, and start turning away the darkness in others.

He told us that we “are the salt of the earth” (Matthew 5:14, NIV), and what does salt do? It purifies, it heals, it spices up. When salt is placed in a glass of water, it becomes invisible, yet upon tasting its presence is greatly noticed. We must go out into the world, and salt it with Gods love. We must purify the wounds that are made through sin. We must help others heal, and provide light to the darkness in their lives.

This is how we become fruitful. To stay in the comforts of our churches does nothing to further Gods kingdom. I understand Good Deeds does not get you into heaven, but it does glorify God.

We must be “filled with the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God" (Philippians 1:11). Our righteousness praises God, and it is through being fruitful that we are righteous.

I understand that at any time “every tree which does not bear good fruit …[can be] cut down and thrown into the fire" (Luke 3:9), but Gods love for his people is so great that he gave his only son to provide us a special role in this world. His love allows us to stay on this earth and share his love.

So why do you continue to stay blind and mute? What is more glorious than sharing his love? You get excited about cars, purses, games, and members of the opposite sex, but not God? If someone wasn’t fruitful and didn’t share their fruit with you, then you wouldn’t have been saved from sin and provided the completeness that comes solely from knowing God. So how can you stand there and not share the greatest thing in the world? If you knew the cure of cancer, would you keep it to yourself? OF COURSE NOT. That’s why God commands that we bare and share fruit.

With that I ask you Christians to stop playing defense, and start on the offensive. Start purifying and lighting the world. God even provided us with a perfect battle plan, the bible. God used someone to expose you to the greatest gift of all, and now its your turn to provide others with that very gift. Imagine if it made a drastic difference in your life, what it can do for those who need it more.

Its time to go out on the attack, and wage a war against sin. Tell your brothers, your sisters, your neighbors, your co-workers, and your friends and family about Gods love. Rejection will of course come, for the Christ himself warned us that accepting him came with a price. Yet no price can match how invaluable his love is. I myself have had people tell me I will never make a difference and that my ideals are retarded and f’ed up. I’ve been persecuted here on myspace, live journal, and real life. But it will never prevent me from being fruitful.

I ask that you open your eyes of , attach the armor of faith, and prepare your sword of Gods word to win this war. Go out, and declare Gods love to every ear that can listen, that way, God will not look to you upon entering heaven and say “I never knew you” (Matthew 7:23).

-Leonard O. Forwarding would be welcomed.