Cookies, Chips and God's Power

My wife loves to make chocolate chip cookies; I love to eat them—it’s no surprise. But more often than not, I find myself sifting through the batch to find the one that is softest and has the most chocolate chips in it. Depending on how they were cut out and how much time they were cooked makes a difference in the experience of eating the little treat. The longer cooked the harder the cookie and some simply have more chips. As I was pondering this it dawned on me that like the cookie, our life can also be a treat that becomes a blessing both to God and to others.

Jesus spoke of Himself as the “Vine” and His church as “Branches of the Vine”. He likened Christians to branches that either bore no fruit (no chocolate chips), some fruit (some chocolate chips), or a lot of fruit (delicious and tasty). But conditions, by proxy, determine which type of branch we are. Here is what He said:

I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing, John 15:1-5.

Jesus is speaking of our life in Him; that is, our personal one on one relationship with Him. This can also apply to church since altogether we make up a congregation that is in Christ, the Vine. He states, that there is a pruning process in our spiritual lives that exists. We rarely think about this and it is no surprise. We like to live and walk as we desire if we can—we like our independence. However the Christian is never independent of God. Jesus wanted us to make sure we realized this; thus this story. So in our dependent walk there are stages of dependency. As I said earlier we may be a barren cookie with no chips, a weak cookie with a few chips, or a cookie full of delicious chips. The type we are is dependent upon the vine which supports us and our dependency upon it.

Another principle is the vine is constantly at work. Using Jesus’ terminology, He is constantly working to make us into the branch springing from Him that will produce truckloads of fruit. So the ability to be well-pleasing, strong, and a delight to Him and those around us always exists but our part in the process is also of great importance. We must realize that we have to constantly abide in Him to gain what is necessary to produce. So the choice becomes ours.

Our choices in life determine whether Jesus allows the fruit to grow to abundance. If we are not walking in full dependence upon Him there will be no fruit, He will cut the branch off. If we are beginning to be more dependent and some fruit is appearing He will prune us so we can be more fruitful. If we are fully walking in Him, taking His words to heart and being obedient to the Holy Spirit’s nudging within us, then we will be very fruitful and see the mighty power of God working in mighty ways through us.

That is the simple principle Jesus wanted us to know. Now, that being said, let’s be truthful, do you really want to see Jesus working in mighty ways in and through you? Be honest. If you do you will re-read what Jesus said, and you will begin to take to heart this unchanging principle. Again be honest, answer the question. Do you really want to see the power of God in your life? If so, abide in Him as He asks.

Comments

25 Reasons to Believe - In Jesus FREE EBOOK

FREE EBOOK click to download - When book comes up click down arrow on Upper Right to save a copy . A while back the Barna Group released a report titled, "Six Reasons Young Christians Leave Church." 1 Under reason two, " Teens’ and twenty-somethings’ experience of Christianity is shallow" they write: "A second reason that young people depart church as young adults is that something is lacking in their experience of church. One-third said “church is boring” (31%). One-quarter of these young adults said that “faith is not relevant to my career or interests” (24%) or that “the Bible is not taught clearly or often enough” (23%). Sadly, one-fifth of these young adults who attended a church as a teenager said that “God seems missing from my experience of church” (20%)." If one takes a look at the modern church-scape I can see why. The gap between those pastors and teachers that are fired up about Jesus and those that do not preach all of th

Fornication - The Acceptable Sin?

In the Bible there are several sexual sins that are categorized under the term,"Sexual Immorality." Not the least of these is, "Fornication." However fornication has become an outdated, and in many places, the acceptable sin in the late twentieth and twenty-first centuries. As a matter of fact, many do not even know what the term "fornication" means. Since the advent of the modern Bible translation, many have never heard of it. This article focuses on what the Scripture says about this out-of-control acceptable sin. Fornication is mentioned thirty-six times in the Bible (MT), thirty-two times in the New Testament. In almost all modern translations the word has been substituted with, "sexual immorality" and has come to mean any number of sexual sins. However, sin (missing the mark) is still sin and sin still separates a person from God. So why has this sin become so acceptable even in modern churches???? UPDATE : Here is a testimony of life

The Bride of Christ Has Made Herself Ready!!

The Bible teaches of an upcoming Wedding Day that the Church should be on cloud nine over!! Rev. 19:7-9 states: Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come , and His wife has made herself ready." And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. Then he said to me, "Write: 'Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb!' " And he said to me, "These are the true sayings of God." The passage above speaks of two distinct events, the Marriage of the Lamb and the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. Both of these events are reminiscent of the ancient Jewish wedding ceremony where the Bride would become betrothed to her Groom and he would go away to build her a home. In the meantime she would wait anxiously for his return with shouts from his wedding party of "The Bridegroom Comes!" When the shouts were he

Understanding Grace…without it no one can be saved!

Years ago as a pastor, I faced an issue concerning the topic of “Grace.” I had noticed some congregants who were taking Grace to the extreme and beginning to teach that since our sins were bought and paid for at the cross—all of them, past, present, and future—there was no need to strive against sin. Thanks to our Lord, this was noticed and the He quickly allowed it to be curbed. This heresy occasionally rears its head in Christian circles and indeed must be stopped before it becomes out-of-control. The good thing is that a proper understanding of Grace can arrest the heresy in its steps. Because this false perception thrives in loose living, many well-meaning Christians go completely to the opposite extreme and throw the Biblical teaching of “Grace” out altogether. That too is heresy. How should we approach it? Grace, as a doctrine, should always be presented in its entirety. By that I mean, a starting definition, followed by why it is important, and concluding with keeping it scri

Cardboard Signs and Saying Yes to God

Perhaps you have seen the story of "Daniel's Gloves". It has been floating around the internet since 2001 according to snopes.com. They also tell us the original author is Richard Ryan the assistant Pastor of a Church in Indiana. I refer to this story—which you will find posted below mine—because of the effect that helping one in need can actually have on a believer’s life. One of the things I have done in the past is monitor just how many people there are who simply pass on by those who are holding a sign stating “Will work for food” or “Need Help for me and my children.” If you ask the hurting they will tell you there are literally hundreds and hundreds who just will not help. Truly it is a sad testimony that “one or a few bad apple(s) can spoil a whole bushel.” It is definitely something I also have observed. For some reason we either fear them, fear confrontation or fear being deceived. Whatever the reason, I often wonder how God feels about it. Just a fe

Truth Inspires

Search This Blog