One rotten apple...

It’s been a while since my last blog, because I don’t write one unless I have something worth saying. Today I think I do.

I saw two of my friend’s facebook statuses this morning that got me thinking:

1. Eph 3:10: The thing that God has chosen to usher His glory in on the earth is the CHURCH (ekklessia- corporate), not the individual saint. Loving sons give themselves to their heavenly Fathers purposes, the way He has chosen them to. If you love God, you will give yourself too, and for the church, just like Gods first Son (Jesus) did – Andrew Selley

2. My laptop said to me this morning “Plug in or look for an alternative power source.” It reminded me I need to plug into God as my power source – Adam Helyer

And people say Facebook isn’t good for anything ;)

Nick and I are not content with mediocre. Both of us are always wanting more. When our marriage gets into a rut, we’re both quick to say “Let’s make it awesome.” When we see we’ve slipped behind in any area - be it parenting, work, play, fitness, social life or living for God, it bothers us because we have high expectations of ourselves, and life. Most of our conversations consist of “This is wrong, this has to change, we have to get better at that, this is not good enough. We suck!!” LOL…

After reading those 2 statuses today, something hit me like a ton of bricks - you can’t change the fruit on a tree. The fruit is either rotten or healthy because of the root. You can point to the fruit everyday and say “That’s not good fruit. How do we change that? Let’s work on an action plan!” But you will never be able to get the fruit healthy if your root is not getting the water to sustain it. End of.

We are the king and queen of trying to change the fruit and somewhere along the line, we both forgot to focus on the root. As a result, for example, one of us decides we want to get fit (a fruit) and we do it for a while and then stop because there is no underlying life to sustain it. Or we decide we want to change something that’s bad about our character and it lasts a day before it pops back up. Or we decide we want to be a godly spouse - which isn’t easy! A godly wife respects, honours and submits to her husband as head of the home and a godly husband lays his life down and loves his wife in the same way that Christ loves the church! I mean come on – it’s not for the faint-hearted. We manage it for a (short) while and then stop because we’re only human and how long can you get something right using your own strength?

We also haven’t been very focused on church life lately and our subconscious excuse has been “We’re just going to sort out the fruit and then we can concentrate on the root.” WRONG ORDER!

Over coffee this morning (and a few of my tears), we realised that God has never once left us? Not ever. He’s like a loving father to us. He disciplines us but even with that, he puts boundaries in place and makes sure we are always looked after. It’s like us grounding our son to teach him something but still making sure he has a roof and meals and all our love at his disposal. It’s the controlled discipline of a loving Father that leads to repentance and abundant life! (The bible says the Lord disciplines those he LOVES and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son - Hebrews 12v6). It basically hit home that we can not change the fruit in our lives. We can only make sure that we are plugged into the power source so living waters are flowing through us to sustain healthy fruit. Everytime we want to change something about our life or about ourselves (which is daily for us), we need to say “Let's get back to the power source.” Not come up with an action plan. Because when you are plugged into the power source, the bad things give you up and the good things flourish. No effort required.

John 15 v 5 says: “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” So what is the one thing that is required of us in order to bear much fruit? Remain in Him.

Thankyou Lord for the lightbulb moments that make things clear. And thankyou that you “who began a good work in us, will carry it onto completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 1 v 6) You won't relent until it's done.