We
make all sorts of plans. We plan our
vacations, plan for retirement, plan our work schedule, plan when we will have
kids, plan our class schedule and plan on getting our haircut. We strategize how to succeed, how to invest,
how to stay healthy and how to raise our children. There is though only one strategy in the
Kingdom of God and it is as simple as turning on your computer or starting your
car. In Jesus' final instructions before
going to the Cross He provided the Disciples with the only plan He had for them
to operate as children of God and succeed in what the Father had in store for
them. He put it metaphorically so that
it would be clear as day to us what it was.
"Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear
fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless
you remain in me. I am the vine; you are
the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit;
apart from me you can do nothing". (John 15:4-5 NIV) Our laser-like
attention and focus must be on this one effort.
Remain in Christ and let nothing take you from it. Anything that distracts you from keeping your
mind fixed on Christ must be hated with all the disgust you can muster. It is not that we are to leave this world
in abandonment to some monastery in the hills.
God never gave His disciples an assignment like that. He left them in the hard scramble of life and
did not pull them from it until He called them home. It is in the crash of living that we are to
remain in Christ and stay there in Him when anything from disaster to triumph
arrives. There is no panic or fear of
"night" for the one whose mind is fixed on Christ. We can be as peaceful as a cooing dove if we
will do this one thing without fail.
Look to Christ in the earthquake and the storm, in the sunset and the
gentle breeze. Refuse to give in to the
temptation to fuss about what you will wear or what you will eat or how
mistreated you are but glue your mind to Christ and tomorrow will "take
care of itself".
But
make up your mind not to worry beforehand how you will defend yourselves. For I will give you... Luke 21:14-15 NIV
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