What really
matters to you, Christian? You should evaluate your priorities and hopefully
make changes as needed. But why? In our present world, we are so busy that we cannot always accomplish all that we have on our schedule on any given
day. If we don’t set priorities, we could be spending time on the least
important things, while overlooking the more important ones.
Having said
all that, what should our priorities be as Christians? And what would be the
benefits if we focus on the most important? According to the apostle Paul, the
first and foremost is to be filled with
the fruit of our salvation, which is the righteous character produced in
our life by Jesus Christ. If we maintain the right focus, we will live a pure
and blameless life, which will bring much glory and praise to God the Father
(see Philippians 1:10-11). We need to make this our top priority because when
we don’t, we discourage other Christians, and unbelievers see us as hypocrites:
preaching one thing, and doing just the opposite. That of course drives them
farther away from God.
So, in
short, the fruit of our salvation is the demonstration of godliness in our
lives as we imitate God as His dear children. Imitating parents is a natural thing; children often do certain things only because they’ve seen
their parents do them. May the Holy Spirit renew our minds and attitudes, and
may we not grieve Him by continuing to live by the dictates of our sinful
nature. Instead, may we imitate our Father!
Since Christ
lives in us, one would expect that demonstrating Christ’s likeness would be
easy, but it isn’t. That’s because our sinful nature is constantly at war with
our spiritual nature, wanting to make us behave differently than we’d like to.
Paul the apostle expresses it this way: “I want to do what is right, but I
can’t. I want to do what is good but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong,
but I do it anyway. But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one
doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it” (Romans 7:18-20).
Paul’s
understanding and lament over the situation are this: “I love God’s law with all
my heart. But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind.
This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. Oh, what a miserable
person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and
death?” (Romans 7:22-24). But thank God, Paul found the solution to his -- and our
-- lament - in the very next verse! “Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ”
(Romans 7:25). This shows us that righteous living is not just going to happen;
God is working in us to give us the desire and the power to do what pleases
Him. But we have to put in a conscious effort to resist sin. We read in
Philippians 2:12, “Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God
with reverence and fear.”
We need to
concentrate on the fruit of our salvation, produced in us by the Holy Spirit:
“love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and
self-control” (Galatians 6:22-23). The only way we, the branches, can bear
fruit, is to abide in the vine, which is Jesus Christ. Bearing fruit does not
just happen; we have to read and study the Word and obey it, allowing Him to
transform our way of thinking and our behavior.
Oh, may we
be filled with the fruit of our salvation; it is critically important for all
professing Christians! And let’s look forward to the heavenly prize that our
Father will gladly give us at the end of this journey.
Pearl
Nsiah-Kumi
06/03/2021
All
references are from the New Living Translation (NLT)
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