“And how do you know if you are abiding in Christ?”
I recalled the Words of Jesus when He spoke to His disciples. “When I bear fruit?”
“Exactly. And are you?”
I listened to my friend, who kindly gave me spiritual counseling, and looked downward, averting my eyes from his concerned stare. “No.” I didn’t want to admit it but it was the truth. For months, I was backsliding. One sad testimony was my discontinuation of writing my daily blogs, of which this is an example. I wrote a daily weekday blog for nearly seven years, never missing a day unless I was on vacation. I told others that the day I stopped writing these blogs was when God stopped speaking to me. Although I knew it was not true, I stated this with some conviction. These blogs would easily come to mind as God showed me how I could see Him in the seemingly everyday occurrences of my life. If I stopped writing the blogs, it may mean I was no longer listening to Him. A more accurate description would be that God was speaking, I simply wasn’t listening.
I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
John 15:5 (ESV)
The example Jesus gave is simple and straightforward. So why didn’t I follow it? I substituted my foolish standards for God’s absolute. I was sinning by putting God to the test. Instead of abiding, I was challenging God. Instead of bearing fruit, I shriveled and grew in resentment and disinterest. As Jesus emphatically stated, I was not serving Him. I was doing nothing. Through God’s grace and mercy, I have found my way back to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. It was a painful and much-needed lesson.
What a loving God we serve!
Love and trust in the Lord; seek His will in your life.
The Bereans Blog 