God's Guide to a Fruitful Life

Jesus told his disciples, "I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, bears much fruit" (Jn 15:5). As we go about our lives, carrying out God's plans through the power of His Holy Spirit, our lives will have significance, and two characteristics will become increasingly evident.

1. Treasuring God's Word in our hearts. When we value something, we think about it all the time, study it regularly, and learn all we can about it. By studying the Bible, we learn many important things about our God, including things about His character, plans, and promises. Regular Scripture meditation develops our ability to think biblically and it deepens our relationship with our Lord. One of the indications that we treasure His Word is a change in behavior ... decisions will increasingly be guided by His principles, and actions will reflect the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22-23).

2. Adorning ourselves with kindness and truth. These two virtues are to be our constant companions on our Christian walk. God's truth has the power to expose ungodly attitudes and behaviors. When this happens, the presence of kindness helps to protect relationships from damage; it can also prevent discord and division in churches. The Lord desires for us to speak to each other in truth, but to temper it with loving compassion.

The Christian life is a journey filled with pot holes of temptation, sudden obstacles, and sharp curves of difficulties that are common to man (1Pe 4:12). At the same time, it is to be characterized by the fruitfulness that comes from following our Guide.


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Here we are, another Wednesday. Seems the Wednesdays just fly by. Time goes by so fast. I didn't blog on Monday or Tuesday because I wasn't feeling well and just couldn't drag my body to my computer. I'm off the antibiotics as of today and I feel much, much better. I don't have that reaction from all antibiotics thank goodness. They make me ache all over like I have the flu and I'm miserable while I'm on them. I finally figured out this time, at M's suggestion, to try taking some aspirin for the aching and discomfort. So simple. Too simple for me to think of. Aspirin didn't get rid of the pain but it eased it quite a bit. The only thing I got done during the past 10 days was reading a few books and spending a couple days writing devotionals. I have ideas for two books but I just don't think I have what it takes to write them any more. I don't have the needed discipline to write books. Once upon a time, yes, but I think now they would just end up being more projects started and left unfinished and I have enough of those.

I had a great quiet time this morning even if it did get interrupted. But I thought I'd share a little of what I read. Streams in the Desert was especially good: "What shall I do? I expect to pass through this world but once. Therefore any good work, kindness, or service I can render to any person or animal, let me do it now. Let me not neglect or delay to do it, for I will not pass this way again." This was an old Quaker saying and it touched me deeply. I especially liked that it said to render these to any person or animal." Mrs. Cowman added to that a poem by Adelaide Proctor that began and ended with this stanza: "It isn't the thing you do, dear / It's the thing you leave undone / That gives you the bitter heartache / At the setting of the sun." These just really spoke to me today. Then Andrew Murray wrote: "We must not seek only the forgiveness of sin, but we must also seek the abundant grace that will help us to be victorious over sin and enable us to be fitted for the continual indwelling of the Spirit. We must earnestly pray that the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge will be our first priority in life. At the throne of grace we shall be rooted and grounded in that love. And having come to love God, that love will radiate from us and will reach and enrich the hearts of those who do not as yet love Him." It's not just that we make it a point to leave nothing undone in our day, but that we do them in God's love, from His throne of grace. That we mirror our great Savior to everyone we come across. Murray closed with this prayer: "Lord, thank You that I may live in Your everlasting love, even though I do not deserve it. Teach me to radiate this love to those who do not yet know you" (italics mine). We go this way but once, let's leave nothing undone and do all things in the love of God for His glory and in the strength of the Holy Spirit. Isn't it strange how books that have nothing to do with each other, and were my random choices can work in unison, bringing home the points to our hearts and minds? I think I would be a fool to miss the fact that God spoke to me this morning.

I have no plans for today. I have a tub of clothes in the dryer and will need to fold them when they are done. We're planning to grille burgers tonight for dinner and the only thing I will have to do is cook some french fries and make up some thousand island dressing. Can't have burgers in this house without the thousand island dressing. M has the patties all made up and in the fridge. He likes to take the meat and mix in chopped onions, a little seasoned salt, and Worcestershire and soy sauces. It makes the patties so flavorful. I'm giving away his cooking secrets here, I hope he doesn't mind. Oh well, it's not like this goes out to hundreds of people.

I'm going over to a friend's house tomorrow for lunch. She has invited several ladies over and it should be a lot of fun. I don't socialize much because of my hearing loss but I know I need to do more of it. Sunday afternoon there's going to be a wedding shower at our Pastor and his wife's home for a woman in the congregation and I'm going to try and make that too. I need to get out more and the only way to do that is to make the effort to go when invited.

I guess our small group will start up in a week or two. I'm looking forward to it but at the same time I've enjoyed the time away. Just one less commitment for a couple months. We had our quarterly business meeting last Sunday after church and for the first time I actually had a written report to give. I'm getting there! It just takes me a little longer than most people. But I do finally feel like I'm on top of the deacon board most of the time, which is a nice feeling. When I was first elected chair, I had absolutely no idea what was involved and whether I'd be able to do it all. But, with God's grace, I have learned as I've gone along and I've had a lot of help from everyone else. They took pity on me because they knew I had no idea what I was supposed to do as chair. Everyone has been so helpful to me and I thank them from the bottom of my heart.

My scalp infection is gone but the condition is still there. I don't know what the doctors are going to do to help me get all this stuff, that is like dried white glue, off my scalp and out of my hair. But I can't wait to feel the air on my scalp again. I really do feel like I have a tight swimming cap on 24 hours a day. I guess it will eventually resolve itself. I'm just not sure I can go the distance without going crazy.

I've now finished Luke in the New Living Bible. What a great translation! It really is a joy to read. Now John awaits me and then it will be into Acts and the letters. I should have the entire NT read before too long. I'm sure I'll have it finished by Christmas. Hopefully, Thanksgiving or even sooner. I just never know what the future holds so never know how much time I will have to sit and read. Ah, my favorite past time. I was complaining about my poor reading comprehension a month or so ago. Complaining that for some reason I couldn't retain what I read. Needless to say, this was a very big deal with me. Well, Wilnette (Broken Vessels) prayed for me on my blog and the Lord opened up my mind and showed me what my problem was. I was letting my mind wander while I was reading. Very subtle. Until she prayed for me, I couldn't even pick up on the problem. But now I'm back to normal. It took a little work to reestablish the habit of concentrating on what I read, lassoing my drifting thoughts and bringing them back when necessary, but it has been marvelous to read and remember what I read. Thank you Wilnette, and thank you Lord.

I just checked on my dryer and it's about ready to shut off so I should finish this up and get it out before it gets any later. I couldn't blog earlier because our server was down. It's been down every morning for the past week or more. They must be doing some type of maintenance on the system or something. But it's always a bummer when it goes out. I know this isn't much of a blog but I'll try to do better next time. Until then...