(Further reflections on "Discipleship Certified"--Sunday 3-Sep-2023)
Life's fulfillment comes with a "holy package," that is, pruning and abiding. The former asks for trust. The latter needs obedience.
Whoever trusts God will understand and welcome His pruning works in life though it will be a painful process. Whoever abides in Jesus naturally obeys God's word regardless of life's circumstances. These people understand that life's challenging situation is just like bad weather which comes and goes and most of the time, unpredictable. They understand the metaphor of Jesus, being the Great Vine and they are the branches. So when a storm comes, branches that abide will remain. Or when branches that do not bud, the Vinedresser (God the Father) will take them away. And when branches refuse to abide in the Vine, it will be naturally broken off, withered, and thrown into the fire, and burned by the Vinedresser.
Life's fulfillment comes when the "abiders" ask and they receive what they ask for. This is not only very satisfying, but also glorifying God the Father--the Vinedresser who is pleased with the fruitfullness of "the branches" who are proven disciples of His Son, Jesus Christ.
Life's fulfillment comes when joy is not so much about our doing, but our abiding in Jesus' love, which is by design, the keeping of His commandments in the context of our love for one another and His love for us. Moreover, we are further fulfilled when we live out His word and have a privilege to be called a friend of God through Christ Jesus (cf. John 15:12-14).
One caveat remains. As much as the Vinedresser loves and wants the best for the "branches," He cannot and will not force any "branch" to stay in the Vine if he/she doesn't want to. He invites and keeps inviting and calling all the "branches" that do not bear fruit to wake up and know that the time is coming when the Vine Dresser will do His "gardening work" of taking them away or leaving them up to their own rebellious or stiff-necked or hard-of-hearing lifestyle.
Lord, have mercy and be patient to those whose life do not show any fruit as they have mistakenly thought life in Christ is like "plastic branches" that don't abide in the Vine though it looks plastically green, but there is no life and fruit.
--
Pastor Lap
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