I want you to do a favor for me. Throw a seed outside on the
asphalt and just let it sit there for a few days. After a sufficient amount
of time has passed go out and check to see if anything has happened to that
seed. You may find that the seed has grown a few roots; or maybe, it has even
opened up and tried to bud a bit. Either way, give it a few more days separated
from good ground where it can put down its roots and find sustenance and it
will die. Why is this? I thought that life always finds a way as Dr Malcolm in Jurassic Park
In John 15:4 Jesus makes the statement, “Abide
in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it
abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.” What a powerful
statement He is making here. This is not a parable needing to be explained, nor
is it a deep mystery that can only be understood through the intervention of
the Holy Spirit poking at our brains in order to coax our synapses to life.
Sure, it is helpful when the Holy Spirit gives us revelation about certain
scriptures; but, this one really shouldn’t require that. What Jesus is saying
here is that unless we are genuinely and consistently plugged into Him we can
not bear fruit. It really is as simple as that. You see, one of the biggest
problems we all tend to face as Christians is that we are constantly trying to
bear fruit and have life without actually being plugged into the source of all
life. Jesus put it to us pretty blatantly in this scripture when He says that
that just simply isn’t possible. Neither is a Human living indefinitely without
food or the Transformers without Optimus prime or my kids getting up before
noon without some form of cold water involved.
Sometimes we are like the walking dead stumbling
through life in search of anything that will bring us life except the one thing
that really will. It’s kind of like socialism. No mater how many times they try
to reinvent it; it just simply does not work. No form of socialism will ever be
able to produce any form of prosperity and growth. Moreover, nothing other then
Jesus will produce life in us. In John 10:10 Jesus said that he came to give
us life and life more abundantly. We as Christians, however, are always
trying to have this life without Jesus. Wait a minute now! I am saved and I go
to church on Sunday mornings isn’t that enough. Well, if you uproot a pant
everyday and only plug it into its source for about two hours once a week do
you think it will live and thrive? If it does it will only be a pale shadow of
what it could and should be. It will be the living dead since it is constantly
trying to have life without being plugged into the source of its life. Just
like the plant this is what we do all the time. We try to live an on fire
overcoming Christian life without the source; and, we become nothing more then
the walking dead who have a small measure of real life while trying to sustain
ourselves with the death of this world.
Now, I am someone who loves to consume
entertainment. In fact, I have always wanted to be someone who created books,
movies and television for a living. I absolutely love entertainment; but if all
I ever do is fill my life with entertainment, then that is all I will ever
have. What do I mean by this? Well, what you put in is what you have to sustain
you and to give out. If I never spend time personally with God or in His word
and prayer, then when I need that life all I will have is the Teenage Mutant
Ninja Turtles. Now, knowing how to fight like a ninja can be helpful against a
mugger; but, it is completely useless against the devil, depression, sickness,
suicide, divorce, or any other kind of hurt or pain that we all face in life.
The word of God and prayer, on the other hand, are the only powers in the
universe that are capable of handling the aforementioned issues. Just like the
food we eat for strength and life in our daily life, these things must also
become our food. This is what Jesus meant when he made the statement in Matthew
4:4, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by
every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” You see just
as our body requires a source of life to live so does our spirit. Without that
source we can not have life or bear fruit. The truth is people, that if we want
to do more then just survive we have to be plugged into the source of our life
everyday and not just once a week on Sunday mornings.
I
will leave you with an analogy of one of my favorite superheroes. Seriously,
you had to have expected this was coming.) The Green Lanterns are a group of
intergalactic superheroes who get their considerable powers from a power ring.
This ring must be charged constantly or it will run out of power. They charge
their rings by touching them to the source of their power which is their green
lanterns. Now the green lanterns personal batteries have power because they are
connected to the central power source on the planet OA. If the Lanterns loose
their lantern or forget to connect to their battery, than their rings will
eventually run out of power and they will become powerless. This is what
happens to us as Christians when all we do is connect to God on Sunday mornings
or when we are in dire need; we become powerless. The word powerless
means exactly what it sounds like it means, “To be without power.” We as
Christians are without power when we are trying to live our lives without being
regularly connected to the source. Sure, we may have power for a while but we
will eventually become more and more drained of our life until all that is left
is merely a shadow of what we once were. If this is where you are today then I
have good news for you. You have a personal power source with you right now
that you can recharge your spirit with called the Word of God and prayer; and,
the more time you give to those things the more life you will have.
