By Rev. Dave Havener, Pastor at Lakeview Chapel —<\/p>\n
I\u2019m reading a book entitled \u201cThe Good and Beautiful Life\u201d, by James Bryan Smith, the second in his three-part Good and Beautiful series. The chapter I\u2019m reading deals with maintaining a strong relationship with God through Jesus. <\/p>\n
A stunning statistic he quotes, is that, \u201cOnly 10% of Christians are actively developing their relationship with God on a daily basis.\u201d He posits that either people believe that they can \u201chave faith\u201d in Jesus without a relationship or that the metric of a \u201cgood Christian\u201d is keeping all the right rules.<\/p>\n
I know I have fallen into those false narratives at various stages in my life.<\/p>\n
Smith directed my thoughts to John 15:5-8, a familiar scripture passage that utilizes horticulture in Jesus\u2019 description of what it means to be a Christian. <\/p>\n
In that passage, Jesus likens our life with God to a plant, where He is the vine and we are the branches. The key is for the branch to remain connected with the vine. Only then can the life-giving nourishment of the vine flow into the branch so that it can live and be fruitful.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a beautiful image of what our relationship with Jesus is all about. We are branches made to bear fruit, but if we are detached from the vine there is nothing but withering death ahead. Perhaps you\u2019ve seen this happen before as well, a branch appears to be attached, but something blocks or limits the sap from flowing and the branch is weak, unfruitful, and eventually dies.<\/p>\n
Jesus said that if we will remain in Him, connected to and open to accepting His life, then we will flourish and be fruitful. Actually, He says in vs. 8, that living in His life and being fruitful is the true sign of being His disciple.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you produce much fruit, you are my true disciples. This brings great glory to my Father.\u201d<\/p>\n
Smith defines abiding as \u201cto rest and rely on Jesus, who is not outside of us, judging us, but inside of us, empowering us.\u201d<\/p>\n
There is no such thing as a \u201csort-of\u201d Jesus follower. Either you are connected, or you aren\u2019t. Certainly, we are all at different stages of maturity and every relationship with Jesus is unique, we aren\u2019t a bunch of clones. But Jesus speaks of only two possibilities, dead or alive. Either His life<\/b> is active and lived out in you or it isn\u2019t.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s why I don\u2019t use the terms \u201cbeliever\u201d or even \u201cChristian\u201d very much because they have become more like titles than descriptors. I like the phrase Jesus follower because it denotes life and action, like a branch abiding and receiving life from the vine. A Jesus follower is one who chooses to live life as Jesus leads them, and to do so relying on His life and strength.<\/p>\n
This coming Sunday will be my last day as pastor at Lakeview Chapel as my wife and I are retiring and moving closer to our children. These past months my thoughts have shifted to what I want to leave behind with the people of our church and those I know in our community. <\/p>\n
And it really all boils down to this; keep following Jesus<\/b>. If I have only gathered people who are following me, I have completely failed as a pastor. My greatest desire is for people to follow Jesus; to be branches who abide in HIS life. <\/p>\n
Don\u2019t settle for a \u201cgood\u201d appearance. <\/p>\n
Jesus called the religious leaders of His day \u201cwhitewashed tombs\u201d that looked good on the outside but were still dead inside. Instead, make your relationship with Jesus the priority. That translates to time spent in and attention given to His Word where He guides us in His Way, and investing in prayer as a relationship-building conversation.<\/p>\n
Abide<\/b>, make your LIFE an investment in your relationship with Jesus. Keep following His guidance and trusting in His life to provide everything you need to bear fruit for God.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Rev. Dave Havener, Pastor at Lakeview Chapel — I\u2019m reading a book entitled \u201cThe Good and Beautiful Life\u201d, by James Bryan Smith, the second…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":100087,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-100086","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editorial"],"yoast_head":"\n