Day 35 – Issue 11

Be Still Know

John 15:16 NLT

‘You didn’t choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name.

The intended outcome of faithfulness is always fruitfulness. Jesus stated that those who abide in the Vine, which is Jesus, will bear fruit that will last. Fruitfulness indicates that we are productive, valuable, beneficial and useful.

However, a fruit, in meeting the needs of another, is consumed in the process. It is an image of dying to self in order to serve the needs of another. This is not a literal dying, rather it’s about placing another’s interests ahead of my own in the service of God. Today such actions are neither instinctive nor popular. They can only ever be the outcome of someone who has deliberately chosen to walk in the footsteps of Jesus. One who has submitted to the Father’s pruning process so that their fruitfulness might increase.

As Jesus stands before his Father, interceding for us, the wounds in hands, feet and side are clearly visible to the Father. These wounds are a constant reminder of the faithfulness of Christ in serving the will of his Father on earth. Indeed, the wounds are the very source of the grace that each one of us enjoys. In a similar way, it is our wounds that often speak most clearly to those in search of a saviour. Celebrating God’s love in the good of life is perhaps to be expected.

The sanctification of suffering is a meditation in its own right, yet it’s our sufferings that bring us a greater appreciation of the God we love for no other reason than that God first loved us. Suffering is not to be celebrated as if the road to God is a pathway of pain. However, neither are the realities of life’s challenges to be denied. God is committed to our growing up into maturity in Christ, and pain is just one of the vehicles through which this process passes.

QUESTION: Do you cover up your wounds and scars so no one will see, or are they a visible sign of God’s faithfulness through trial?

PRAYER: Lord, there have been disappointments, pain and times of pruning. Help me rest in your arms and discover the path that leads to fruitfulness. 

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright C 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc, Wheaton, Illinois 60189 USA. All rights reserved.