The Broad Way and Fruitless Tree
There is a passage in the Bible that has been running through my brain for several days now:
Matthew 7:13-14 “You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it. (emphasis mine)
"The highway to hell is broad." It's broad because we live in a world where we are so caught up in the next big thing. There's a rush to get it or do it.
Whatever the biggest influencer is influencing you to do, buy, or be, that's the goal for many. But that should not be what the Christ Follower is influenced by. We should be leaning on God for direction in our daily walk.
I'm not talking about which shirt you should wear today. Don't be ridiculous. No, there are places He has assigned you to be and work and we often choose whichever one is the easiest--less stressful.
Honey, this world is FULL of stress. You will not find an occupation on this planet that doesn't have stress. Fugetaboutit.
People you encounter everyday need Jesus. I've never witnessed it more up close and personal than I have the last few years.
As I type my eyes are running water--not from allergies. My heart is broken over some situations where the devil has absolutely somehow gotten a foothold in the mind of believers.
Let me remind us all; before you buy into everything that is preached in a new way from the platforms across America, you better wipe the dust off your Bible and read what Jesus told us we would be seeing in the last days.
The internet can be manipulated. Anything online can be changed, adjusted, tweaked. But the Word of Almighty God is unchanging. Go back to the Bible. Don't just look it up online.
Matthew 7:15-20 says, “Beware of false prophets who come disguised as harmless sheep but are really vicious wolves. You can identify them by their fruit, that is, by the way they act. Can you pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? A good tree produces good fruit, and a bad tree produces bad fruit. A good tree can’t produce bad fruit, and a bad tree can’t produce good fruit. So every tree that does not produce good fruit is chopped down and thrown into the fire. Yes, just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions.
Yesterday when I pulled up a blog I had written a few years ago, I shared a passage just below the ones I have shared this morning. And I have cried over it since I read it. It has played in my mind over and over, and even in my half-awake-half-asleep state, it played on.
Matthew 7:21-23 says, "Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter. On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.' But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.’
Did your eyes see what I saw? Let me say it in another way. "But Lord, we taught Sunday school, we led ministries in the jail, we directed choirs, we pastored churches"..... Do you think that's a stretch? I don't. If you think for one-second that God can be manipulated by the "things we have done" you are sorely mistaken. Remember God knows the heart. He knows the motives behind every action we take.
Every time God tells us to do something and we fail to do it--we break His heart. When I would ask my girls to do something growing up--I expected them to do it without question. They didn't question so much as they wanted extra time to do what they were doing: playing or watching TV.
Friend, some people don't have extra time. If God has called you to preach the gospel, don't pause. If He has called you to a foreign country to share His heart, get your passport. If you "wonder" if He did, get your passport anyway. Be prepared. For some, it's a desire to serve in the medical field, law enforcement, or to serve as an attorney or somewhere in the political and judicial systems. We NEED true Believers in these places.
Don't be fooled. We are in dangerous waters. PLEASE get your Bible out and read it for yourself. If you hear something from the pulpit or from any church leader that seems contrary to what you were taught--get the facts. The infallible truth is found only in the Word of God.
The Assemblies of God understanding of Scripture has long been stated in the first article of the Fellowship’s Statement of Fundamental Truths: “The Scriptures, both the Old and New Testaments, are verbally inspired of God and are the revelation of God to man, the infallible, authoritative rule of faith and conduct (2 Timothy 3:15-17; 1 Thessalonians 2:13; 2 Peter 1:21)” (KJV).1
Last thing this morning before I let you go; we have a fig tree in the back yard. The first year we lived here it didn't produce but a few figs. When I say "a few", I mean about three. Then last year it had more but they never ripened. They were on the tree--to the observer it would seem I just needed to get my jelly jars out and have them on standby. But they never ripened. They couldn't be used.
This year, it seemed loaded down with figs. I stood out in the backyard and ate two or three straight off the tree. Then the next week I picked all that had ripened and didn't even have enough for one jar of fig preserves. There were still many on the branches. It looked as if I could have picked a dishpan full, but they weren't ripe. So, I left it alone, thinking I would give it another week and surely they would ripen. But they didn't. They remained hard as a rock.
Last week I came to the sad conclusion that it would have to be cut down. I didn't want to have to remove it. I wanted it to produce figs. We fertilized it and pampered it. I watched it and thought we would see results. It got bigger--but the fruit that appeared was useless. It was just there for show.
Every time I look at that tree, I think of what Christ expects of us. Be fruitful. Ready to be used. Be expectant of the return of Christ! He's not fooled in the least by a tree loaded down with figs...He knows what's inside.
Photo credit: Pixabay.com free photos
Assemblies of God belief official position paper (link)
God has given each of you a gift from His great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another. 1 Peter 4:10 NLT
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