Remain, For Life

I've been listening and watching and seeing a lot of pain in the church as of late. Now, "the church" is not the building that houses my friends and I. The Church is the body of believers who call themselves followers of Christ. Some of my friends tell me that some of their friends were yelled at and such at one church, so instead of working it out, they left the church to find life elsewhere. A couple of husband & wife friends said that they just couldn't seem to work it out, so the husbands left, to also find life elsewhere. That seems to be a common theme: grass greener on the other side, so people are leaving to find life elsewhere.

Do you know what quiting and leaving does? The only thing that leaving under these circumstances does is make you restart the lesson elsewhere. Kind of like the Israelites. The didn't learn the lesson the first time, so God made them wander in the desert for 40 years until they learned. In her book, Battlefield of the Mind, Joyce Meyer talks about this, but said that the Israelites had to stay in the desert until finally, God said, "' You have dwelt long enough on this mountain. Turn and take up your journey and go to the hill country of the Amorites...Behold, I have set the land before you; go in and take possession of the land...' Deuteronomy 1:6-8," (34). The Israelites were forced to wander for 40 years on a journey that would have only taken them 11 days if they had not given up.

Last night, we had a praise and worship service at our church and our pastor talked briefly about oranges. He said that fruit, like oranges, become the sweetest during the harshest conditions because the tree sends all the nutrients to the fruit at once, so as to protect the fruit during such harsh conditions. Jesus talks about this in John 15:1-6. He said that He is the vine and we are the branches and we will bear much fruit if we remain in Him and if He remains in us. However, if we do not remain in Him, we will wither and be thrown away. That may sound harsh, but if we want the promise of bearing sweet fruit, then we must remain in Him and journey through the harsh conditions, whether that be facing a swarm of giants, like the Israelites or committing to seeing your marriage through, like our friends.

Our pastor often says that the Bible is full of God's promises, but every promise comes with a premise, an "if-then" statement. Galatians 6:9, "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." "Like Sarah, who obeyed Abraham and called him her master. You are her daughters if you do what is right and do not give way to fear," (1 Peter 3:6). There are many reasons to give up and there are more than enough things to be afraid of in this world. Jesus told us we would have these problems, but He, too, gave us a promise: "In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world," (John 16:33). If you can remember that God has overcome and that you are in God through His Son, Jesus Christ, then there is no reason to "seek life elsewhere," for there is no life apart from the Vine who nourishes you. So, remain in Him and He will remain in you.