Have you ever said “Excuse me,” when no one was around?
I am in an empty house. The kids are gone with the husband, the baby is napping in his room, and I am sitting on the couch eating lunch when a small burp escapes me. I say aloud, “excuse me”. It makes me wonder why in the world would I do that?
It was a learned response to an action that over time has become a natural response. My parents, teachers, grandparents have told me year after year to say excuse me after burping. It has been practiced, and sometimes not practiced, time and time and time again. The response has even been carried on to my children. I teach them what to say if they burp.
Lightbulb moment: This is how I should be living my life for Christ! Wait, what? How does a burp have anything to do with Christian living?
Just like learning the polite response to an impolite action, I should be learning the appropriate Biblical response to the world’s actions. I should be learning, practicing, accepting correction, and trying again until Biblical response becomes my natural response coming deep within me while I am faced with living in this present world.
But how do I do this?
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.
John 15:4
The only way that I can bear the fruit of the Spirit (which is the believer’s Biblical response to life through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit) is to abide in Christ. This means that the more I spend time with God in His Word, the more I will be filled with things of the Lord. Therefore it will fill me, then overflow out of me. Jesus says in John 15:4 that a branch (that’s us-the follower of Christ!) cannot bear fruit unless the branch abides in Christ Jesus. But what fruit is He talking about?
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.
Galatians 5:23-24
I can try to be patient or kind or good on my own but when I do it on my own I get tired really fast and I don’t do a very good job. But as I abide in Christ, as I’m filled with His Word in my heart, my branch’s response will be to bear these fruits because the fruits of the Spirit will be flowing through me and out of me.
We also see that Christ Jesus says that unless the branch “abides in the vine” it cannot bear fruit. So, I need to be abiding in Him and relying on Him constantly. If I look at a branch on a tree in my yard, I can see parts of the tree that have short branches and long ones. There are a variety of branch sizes and leaves growing on each branch. No two are really the same. As I look at the creation before me, I can apply the parables given in God’s Word. I can see that bearing fruit takes time! Specifically speaking of a grapevine, we know that there are seasons of bearing fruit and seasons of harvesting that fruit! The same can be applied to our spiritual lives. I need to have patience that the Lord is doing the work in my life to bear fruit, some at different times than others, as I seek Him and He will continue to do so until it is complete–it’s actually a promise of His! Take a look at Philippians 1:6 (NLT):
And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.
Don’t you just love how God works? I have to laugh that the Lord used indigestion from a salad lunch to lead me to this little hidden treasure of His Word.
What little treasure is the Lord teaching you in life today? Let’s ask the Lord to keep our eyes and hearts open for it. You may even end up experiencing some of God’s humor through it! 🙂