Abide

I grew up in North Idaho, which has no potatoes and a lot of trees. While I was in high school, some friends of mine built a house up in the mountains. To build their house, they had to clear cut the area first, which meant removing some very old and very large trees. A year after they had built the house (during the spring), I was up at their house and we started looking at a tree with a 4 feet thick trunk. At the top of the tree, new branch buds were groing! The tree had been cut down for a year, but the top of it didn’t know that it was dead yet.

I thought of that tree while I was reading John 15 the other day:

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. You have already been cleansed (pruned) by the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.” (NRSV, 1989 – parentheses mine).

A fruit tree cannot fulfill its purpose (producing fruit) if it is not connected to the vine. If I went out to my neighbor’s yard and cut off a branch from his apple tree, that branch I cut off will not provide me with any apples at harvest time. A really large tree may take a year for all the nutrients to run it’s course through the entirety of the tree (this tree was really tall), but the tree will not produce fruit for long – it is cut off from it’s sustenance.

My relationship with Jesus is like the trees/vines that Jesus talks about in John 15. The fruit that Jesus speaks of in this text is not simply making more Christians; it is the end product of your relationship with Him. If my spiritual life is connected to Christ, who is the vine/root, the results of my spirituality are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control.

However, if I try to live my life, disconnected from the vine, I may produce those results in my life for a little while, but just like that giant tree continued to grow for a little while, the growth will not last long. The problem is, I do this far too often, I think that I am the one who is all powerful, who has all the answers, who can make this or that work. I forget to rely on Christ, to utilize His strength and to spend time abiding with Him. I get all worked up and excited when I get a pathetic little bloom. If I only knew.

Earlier, I talked about living a holistic Christianity. Abiding in Christ is at the very heart of living a holistic Christianity. It means walking with Jesus at all times, leaning in Him in times of struggle, celebrating with Him in times of joy; it means depending on Him for all my needs: physical, spiritual, emotional and relational. This does not mean I live up in a room, shut away from the world, and with a vow of silence so that I can depend only on God – it is through community that He may meet many of those needs.

God, let me abide in you, grow in you and produce fruit to Your glory. Amen.

Listening as Prayer

Something that drives me crazy…about myself…is my stunted prayer life.
Here’s the thing: I know the power of prayer, and I acutely desire to be in a deep relationship with my Creator and Savior – the problem is, I rarely spend much time in prayer. It irritates me that my prayer life is so shallow, so I have spent a lot of time lately pondering my prayer life (part of this pondering time I have actually spent praying, which has been good).
I started thinking about my relationships (particularly with my wife) and I realized that I am not much of a talker/communicator in my relationship with Amy. I started thinking of my interactions with my friends, we watch tv, laugh at funny movies but do I spend much time intentionally communicating in the relationships I value so highly? The answer hit me in the face…NO!
So, I have identified a growth area for my life. I am not content to simply say: “That’s just how I am, I don’t talk/communicate much.” Therefore, I am beginning a new way of life – where I communicate more. Last night, Amy and I ate at the dinner table (unusual in our house) and had conversation. I spent my last waking thoughts in prayer. I won’t lie, it isn’t always easy for me, but I know it is good. So please help hold me accountable to my communication in relationships.
In all of my prayer ponderings, a funny thing occurred to me. The majority of my prayer life is made up of me talking to God – asking for things, thanking Him for things, giving praise for things, etc. all of which are good. But, I started thinking about the idea of listening as prayer. This might seem crazy, weird or just different – but the thing is, to effectively communicate in relationships, it requires listening as much (if not more than) talking. I have had to (and continue to) learn this the hard way – just ask Amy. If listening is important in communicating in relationships, then wouldn’t it be of huge importance to listen in prayer? The problem lies in this: when I listen, usually there is an audible voice speaking back to me, and I have honestly never audibly heard the voice of God. Today’s question is: how can we listen to God (I have some ideas, but I want to brainstorm on this for a while).

Holistic Christianity

A holistic Christianity is what I envision. A church that doesn’t compartmentalize it’s spirituality – Sunday morning…check; Wednesday night…check. A holistic Christian does not simply put on the Jesus face two or three times a week, instead they walk with Christ (asking others to come along) at work, play, and home.
What I am seeking, in my quest to be more holistic (and more authentic in my Christianity) is to have Christ at the center of every piece of my day. I am a sports fan who loves Jesus. I am a Jesus fan who loves the Chicago Bears. Those things are connected in my life.
I am proposing that we look for ways to connect each of the areas of our lives instead of trying to disconnect them. I Look for ways to bring my love of Christ into my love of sports (and visa versa). For too long I believed I had to live with a disconnect in the passion areas of my life. Now, as I stretch to become more holistic in my Christianity, I am brainstorming ways to blend the various things I am passionate about, together. Not to place priorities above Christ, but to prioritize Him in all things.
The more I examine my life, the more I am led to Christ and I am confronted with this man. Jesus had a very holistic approach to life: His life, time, money, family, work (ministry), and faith – they were all intertwined. Jesus’ life was 100% engulfed by His love and devotion to His Father – and that connected to each facet of His life. Read the Gospels and you find a man whose actions, time, family, friends, talents and passions were all permeated with God. When I begin to grasp the intensity of Jesus life and ministry, I am absolutely stunned by the holism of His life – and I want to be more like Him.

My first Blog post. Woohoo!