Bearing fruit in every good work

It may seems sometimes that life as a disciple gets to a point where we have the right focus meaning: we strive to pray everyday, be involved in bible studies, have regular meetings where we get to talk about our lives, we are serving through various mediums (ushers, worship) and we can even be sharing the odd communion message. But yet our 'good deeds' doesn't truly produce good fruit. What do I mean? There's no substance, no meaningful and no visible end results to the things we do. We are not moved by an internal force to fuels us with a passion for what we do and say. In Col 1:10, it tackles this very issue.

The notion of becoming 'churchanized' is very real. You've become very good at the things the church requires to keep you part of their membership. The substitution of zeal and passion for the cause of Christ with 'maturity' and knowledge, is something that every Christian will face or is facing. The idea of God's power is merely a powerful worship service with a live band but not so much your quiet time. The idea of knowing God better is to try and memorize what happened in the Bible instead of relating to how the people lived.

We no longer add to our 'Christian routine'. 1Peter 1 warns us that it is possible to 'know' God and yet be ineffective and unproductive in Christ. The concept of using a shovel to remove a volume of air is slightly extreme but yet relevant. In Psalms, it is quoted to that the fear of God is ONLY the beginning of getting to 'know' him. We are urged to worship God with reverence and awe because that's is acceptable in his eyes.

It is made clear that a 'life worthy of the Lord' draws strength from him through a continuous growth in moving prayer and sincere fasting which results in a character that is no longer chained by worldly desires and selfish ambitions but rather a passion and internal desire to please God in EVERY WAY.

Amen

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