A Life Worthy

Tag: Spiritual fruit

  • One-a-Day Monday 9/29/14

    number 1Have nothing to do with the fruitless deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.  (Eph. 5:11)

    Good things generally need light in order to grow.  Sure, you can grow some things in darkness—mold, mildew, assorted fungal yuckiness—but not the good stuff.  Apples, raspberries, peaches, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control—these need light.  What “Fruitless deeds of darkness” are you having something to do with?  Hey, you don’t have to tell me—I’m not running a tabloid here.  But ask yourself—what do you have in your life that is fruitless?  What fungal yuckiness are you growing in the temple of the Holy Spirit?  It doesn’t have to be raging evil.  I’m assuming that you’ve never stolen a baby or sold your mother on eBay.  But if God isn’t part of what you’re doing, if the Light of the World is not invited along, then it’s darkness.  It’s fruitless.  Pull it out by the roots—or better yet, ask God to do it.  He won’t “accidentally” miss anything.  Expose it to the Light, and let it wither away.

    Let today be trash day, Beloved.

  • One-a-Day Monday 6/23/14

    number 1

    For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Peter 1:8).

    There are these two rose bushes in my front yard.  They are planted about fifteen feet apart, and they grow up and across this lattice to meet over my front door.  In theory, they produce beautiful white blossoms that grace the entrance to our home and delight the eye of all who visit.

    In theory.

    In actual practice, the plants have been sickly for years, producing anemic little brownish blobs that serve well to scare away salesmen, missionaries, and the “If you buy ten magazines, I can win a trip to Nebraska” crew.  I’ve watered, fed, sprayed, snipped, talked to and threatened these plants, but to no avail.  Soon, these plants are headed for the green waste bin, because they are wasting my time.

    I hate wasting time.  You see, I’m inherently lazy, so if I’m going to get off my backside and do something, I want it to count.  That goes for my garden.

    That goes for my spiritual life.

    Serving God isn’t easy.  Prayer, study, service—they all take time and energy.  If I’m going to do this, I certainly don’t want to find that I have been “ineffective and unproductive.”  So I’m going to take Peter’s advice and continue to develop, as best as I can, the qualities we talked about last week—faith, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, and the rest.  I want the spiritual fruit—or flowers, to keep the analogy straight—that I produce to draw people in, not scare them away.

    Grab your shovel and gloves, friend—it’s time to get to work.