4.16-Jesus life in crazy times.

4.16-

I am a follower of Jesus.

A disciple.

A student.

A believer.

But I am not as effective as I want to be.  I’m too sweet and too tender.  I sway with the winds of the zestiest, spirit of the age when I should be standing firm.

I seek robust spiritual growth for myself.

100 times production in my life.

or

60 times production in my life.

or

30 times production in my life.

Do you expect to be productive?

Have you given up on abundant fruitfulness in your life as a student of Jesus.  I hope not.

If you have stopped reading the words of Jesus with any faith in him, this message is not really pointed toward you.

If you have had a time of testing, trouble and pressure and given up on standing with Jesus words, this message not for you.

If you have drifted into worrying constantly about what is going on in your smart phone and your 24/7 news cycle and have stopped your ears from hearing God, then this writing is not for you.

But If you are someone who enjoys some fruit in the life you have with Jesus you know the joy it brings to you.  It is a life with amazing quality.  You can look at each life challenge with hope.  You can see God’s path for yourself.  You can receive forgiveness and give it.  You can pray with an open heart and tell God the blunt truth.  You enjoy your intimacy with God.  Do you still want more?  Are you still hungry spiritually?  I hope so.

Work your vineyard or orchard or tent making factory or your carpentry shop for all its worth.  Work hard if you work for a Christian boss or if you work for a harsh, worldly boss. 

Do not worry what God is doing in the work of others.  That is between God and the other brother and sisters.

Do not worry about what God is evaluating between the religion that is true and that which is false.  You can't see into hearts and minds and so you don’t know about the ultimate judgements.  That is God’s job, not yours.

Keep your mind aware that small grows into large.  Small deeds are not unimportant.   If you can’t do great things, do small things in a great way.

The work of God and the expansion of the spiritual things is quiet like yeast.

Justice will be done by God eventually.  He is righteous.  He is just.  He will separate the weeds from the wheat in His time.  He will separate the bad fish from the good fish eventually.  Not now. 

Never forget that the cost is worth it.  Those things that are most important are not won quickly.  Patience is required and the body of work over a lifetime has its rewards.  Jesus’ life is a quality life.  Its an abundant life, but not in earthly riches necessarily.  Sacrifices based on mercy will be made.  Mercy and compassion is the goal, not sacrifice just for sacrifice sake.  Mercy is extended with great effort.  Great doctors, nurses, teachers, military personnel, policemen and women and firemen and women are trained slowly and their respect comes to them over a liftetime.

Don’t worry about the judgments of others.  Your family may think you are off track in the calling you hear.  That is between you and God.  It happens often that close family members do not honor you or respect you or even appreciate you.  It is not to please them but to please your Father in heaven that is important.

Matthew 13.

13 That day Jesus went out of the house and was sitting by the sea. ² And ^[a]large crowds gathered to Him, so He got into a boat and sat down, and the whole crowd was standing on the beach.

³ And He spoke many things to them in parables, saying, “Behold, the sower went out to sow; ⁴ and as he sowed, some seeds fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate them up. ⁵ Others fell on the rocky places, where they did not have much soil; and immediately they sprang up, because they had no depth of soil. ⁶ But when the sun had risen, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. ⁷ Others fell ^[b]among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked them out. ⁸ And others fell on the good soil and *yielded a crop, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty. ⁹ He who has ears, ^[c]let him hear.”

¹⁸ “Hear then the parable of the sower. ¹⁹ When anyone hears the ^[i]word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is the one on whom seed was sown beside the road. ²⁰ The one on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, this is the man who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; ²¹ yet he has no firm root in himself, but is only temporary, and when affliction or persecution arises because of the ^[j]word, immediately he ^[k]falls away. ²² And the one on whom seed was sown among the thorns, this is the man who hears the word, and the worry of the ^[l]world and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. ²³ And the one on whom seed was sown on the good soil, this is the man who hears the word and understands it; who indeed bears fruit and brings forth, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty.”

Read more in Matthew 13.

Larry Wishard