This week, if we look closely at I John 4:7-21 and John 15:1-8, what’s the new lesson of the week? Abiding in Christ. We know that we abide in Him because we love others and do not hate. We love God when we do this too. No exceptions are made for hate. Either we abide in Him, or we don’t, clear as day. This same theme comes again in John 15 but just a little differently. As Christians, we do abide in Christ, but if we don’t “produce fruit,” we’ll get cut off. If we do produce fruit, God will prune us so that we can produce even more fruit as one of His branches. What is this fruit anyway? Well, if you want to put the two passages together, expressions of love would be the fruit. We must produce this, or else, we’re not really with Christ, are we?

                I know that this probably sounds harsh, black and white, but it’s the truth. I honestly don’t like coming to the revelation anymore than the next guy fearing for his spiritual life, but there it is. For this coming week, then, I would like to encourage you to produce the fruits of love in your life. What does it look like? How do we produce fruit like this? It’s all in what we do, such as being more patient with our neighbors maybe. We can also donate clothes to ministries like the Salvation Army. We can share the hopeful message of the Gospel with our friends or anyone that needs it. But don’t do these things just because they’re nice to do. Do it out of the love you have for God. Love others relentlessly; you’re His representative here on Earth. If you’re not being a good representative of Him, are you really being His representative? . . . Consider this our reflection of the week.

The theme for this week: a self-sacrificing shepherd. We have this mainly in the last three passages of the week: Psalm 23, I John 3:16-24, and John 10:11-18. The shepherd is everywhere! What? You don’t see Him in I John 3:16-24? He’s in there; let’s take a closer look. “We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us. . .  (I John 3:16a).” Who’s He? The Shepherd! Now, what is specifically so great about this shepherd? Well, from Psalm 23, we know that He takes only the best care of all of His sheep. Then in the John 10 passage, this Shepherd knows His sheep (which would be us) 100%, undeniably, inside and out. But there’s one main thing I want to hit on here: He lays down His life for His sheep! Yes, He sent His son, Jesus, to be the Savior of the world that we might live above sin.

This is a great thing for us, but how can we apply this to ourselves? That last half of verse 16 from I John 3 earlier: “. . . and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.” Wait, I don’t want to die! But wait! What do the verses after that tell us to do? “¹⁷ But whoever has the world’s goods, and sees his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him? ¹⁸ Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth.” We do what we must with the love of God abiding in us. We share with those in need. Sure, we can say nice things and give a little with a lot of sweet thoughts, right? It’s the thought that counts, right? This time around, I want to challenge that. Let’s actually lay down our lives for those around us. Let’s care for their needs with whatever we have. Let’s give them our time when we might feel pressed for time. Actions speak louder than words, especially when we’re living for Christ.

This might be a tough question to answer for most, but I ask it anyway: how much easier is it to believe in your own power than in the invisible God even though He is all-powerful? The truth is that we’re fallen people; if we can see it, we can easily believe it. If we can feel it, we can have faith in it. That’s how we are prone to work.  When things are going perfectly fine and our circumstances are within our own power to change, we might turn to an agent, a friend, or a family member. Then once we see a solution pull through to save our sorry state, we are so thankful to the one that performed it. If we just so happen to make it ourselves, we take the credit, but wait… to whom does credit really belong? Who has gifted you with the abilities that you have to complete your every task? Who may have opened up the door for things to work out, like a lower monthly payment option that gives you just enough money to get enough groceries for the week? To those who aren’t familiar, the answer is God. To you who go to church and listen to the preacher every Sunday, the answer is obvious. God makes everything possible whether we want to acknowledge it or not.

Peter recognized this after the people were amazed at how he healed the cripple. He was only able to do that through the power of the One that they crucified, Jesus Christ. We can deny Christ, but He is still there and ready to save and to empower. Even in Psalm 4, specifically verse 2:

 “O sons of men, how long will my honor become reproach? How long will you love what is worthless and aim at deception?”

Can you imagine Christ saying that to today’s world? I wouldn’t be surprised. How long might we in our pride refuse to glorify Him? How long will we swoon over the wrong things and fool ourselves (as well as others) thinking that we can ever live our everyday lives by our own power? Let us do that no longer! In the movement to the remaining verses of the Psalm, we read that the righteous man is upheld by God. God listens to our every cry, and ultimately God is given the glory. The truth is: “You have put gladness in my heart, more than when their grain and new wine abound. In peace, I will both lie down and sleep, for You alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety” (Ps. 4:7-8). Have a great weak everyone!