Abiding

I like measurement...every form of measurement. It keeps me on task, guides my decisions, and helps me stay sane: calendars to help me remember, clocks to keep me on schedule, yard sticks to keep me on the mark. And then there's evaluations (which I used to receive when I worked). These evaluations quantified my success in teaching skills to children based on their test scores and ability to function in the classroom.

Measurement was created by God and is good, but there are certain things that only God can measure. Spiritual fruit is one of these things. Last Sunday I heard a great sermon on John 15 about abiding in Christ and how if we abide in Christ we will bear much fruit. I left encouraged to surrender everything to the Lord with a fresh desire to abide in Him.

When we abide in Christ, fruit often is not immediately apparent. Too often I base my decisions on the feedback I get from others instead of my abiding relationship with Jesus. But I'm to please God over man (Galatians). Abiding is my job. Obedience is my job. Evaluating the product of my obedience is God's.

Think of the prophet Jeremiah. Thousands of years ago he preached to people who never listened. He didn't see fruit, but he was obedient--discouraged--but obedient. Based on his finite thinking, he told God he wished he had never been born (something he said in light of God having told him he was born to preach). I was just wondering the other day how Jeremiah might have felt to know that probably billions of people would be drawn to the Lord and drawn to repentance because of his preaching. That is the reality. He bore fruit, but he didn't get to see it in his lifetime. Jeremiah preached and his preaching impacts me in 2014. The reality is the same for those who abide in Christ.

Most of the people we will impact through our decisions in this life are not yet born. When I abide in Christ, that obedience will be bearing fruit into years after this body is buried and my soul is with Jesus. One act of obedience will produce fruit until Jesus returns and we're resurrected. So it's impossible for us to measure...and that's so encouraging. It takes faith to believe that abiding will produce fruit. That also helps guard against having or listening to a critical spirit which is what happens as a result of our inaccurate and immediate measurements. I don't mean we shouldn't count and celebrate how many people attended a ministry event or count and celebrate when people respond to the Gospel or celebrate how much money was raised to meet a giant need. Celebrate! But concentration should be placed on abiding one little moment at a time with a quiet trust that (seen or not) fruit IS produced as a result of abiding.