- Pastor Angie Ng
After so many years away, I just want to start by saying: Hi, everyone!
Evaluate Your Spiritual Life
I’ve noticed that these days, we often rely on emojis or memes to express our moods, emotions, or feelings, even some psychological assessments have started incorporating emojis as measurement tools.
You might not know that I’m currently work as a part-time teacher at an international school. In every classroom, we have a “mood chart” with each student’s name. At the start of class, students pick a sticker representing their mood on that day and place it next to their name. This helps teachers gauge how students are feeling that day. Why does our school implement this system? Because many students nowadays are struggling with emotional intelligence (EQ) management. Having taught for years, I’ve observed a clear trend in recent times, i.e. students increasingly face difficulties managing their emotions. It’s common to see them crying in school or retreating to a corner to calm down after making a mistake, only re-joining the class once they’ve composed themselves.
Today I put the same emojis on the screen for you to see. I neither want to treat you as my students nor measure your emotions. Instead, I want to do a warm-up exercise with you. This emoji scale from one to ten, that is from angry to sad to indifferent to happy and finally to excited. How would you describe your emotion now? You don’t need to tell me, you can keep it for your own self.
If I ask you to use the same emotional scale to describe your current spiritual life, from the lowest one to the highest ten, which one would you choose? Since we are all Christians, I will not beat around the bush and ask you what your current spiritual condition is. There may be many people who are not very clear about their spiritual condition, and there may be some people who are in the middle, that is, neither high nor low. However, if you choose to be in the middle, it is quite dangerous, because it is like being on a hillside and falling down at any time. Of course, growth is ideal, but if you’re declining, it means your spiritual life is deteriorating. This is deeply concerning because your spiritual health directly impacts your entire life.
In fact, spiritual life is something very private and internal to us. I will not look at your answer, but just let you measure the state of your Christian life or your spiritual situation by yourself, because only you know it best.
When I was preparing this message, I was actually evaluating my own spiritual condition. As church leaders, we must be more sensitive to the state of our spiritual lives. This is very important to us. Don’t think that because we leaders have been trained so much and experienced so many trials, our spiritual lives must be very good. This is not necessarily the case. This is because each of us, including pastors, has emotions, and our emotions will affect our spiritual conditions.
Physical Growth And Spiritual Growth Are Inversely Proportional
Today, I want to primarily discuss the topic of growth with all of you. There are two types of growth: one is physical, fleshly growth, and the other is the growth of our spiritual life.
I believe that each of us knows the physical life, which is our birth, aging, illness and death. After we are born, we gradually grow up, and then slowly grow old until we die. Among our brothers and sisters here today, many are in the stage of adulthood, and most likely have families of their own, am I right? So, it’s evident that our physical bodies are indeed growing.
But what about our spiritual growth? In fact, you’ll notice that our spiritual life and our physical life are inversely related. Our flesh begins moving toward death from the moment we were born, but our spiritual life begins with death, only then does it start to grow. Why does our spiritual life begin with death? It’s because when we did not yet know God, when our spirit was not yet awakened, we resisted Him, we didn’t even want to know Him. But once we encountered God, our spirit was awakened. Once awakened, we will continue to seek Him so that our spirit may grow steadily. As we persistently seek God, our spirit keeps maturing. In this process, we no longer fixate on our physical bodies, because we’ve come to realize that our bodily age does not hinder the growth of our spiritual life. Since the flesh will inevitably decay, we instead focus more on the imperishable growth and renewal of the spirit.
Food That Nourishes Spiritual Growth
We all know that physical growth depends on food. From the moment a baby is born, it can only drink milk. As you feed it milk, it gradually grows. Then, you need to introduce semi-solid foods like cereal or soft foods, and later, when it grows older, it can eat solid food. This growth is a step-by-step process, you can’t start by feeding a baby meat, right?
Similarly, our Christian spiritual life also depends on spiritual milk to grow. So it says in 1 Peter 2:2:
“Like newborn babies, you must crave pure spiritual milk so that you will grow into a full experience of salvation.”
Salvation here means to be saved. From this verse, we can see that spiritual milk is essential for our spiritual growth, but at the same time, we must possess a heart that loves, thirsts for, and earnestly desires for this milk. With such a heart, our spiritual life will gradually grow.
If you have been in the church for a while, you should know what this spiritual milk refers to the Word of God. Let’s look at Hebrews 5:13-14:
“For someone who lives on milk is still an infant and doesn’t know how to do what is right. Solid food is for those who are mature, who through training have the skill to recognise the difference between right and wrong.”
Here we are talking about that our spiritual life cannot just stay at the stage of suckling, just like an infant.
Otherwise, its growth will be limited. A baby grows taller and stronger not by milk alone, but by gradually transitioning to age-appropriate foods, starting with soft foods, then eventually solid foods like meat. In the same way, if our spiritual life is to mature, we cannot merely consume God’s Word passively. We must allow His Word to penetrate our hearts and actively transform us. Simultaneously, we must also be proficient in God’s words, execute it in our daily life. Over time, this practice trains us to discern between good and evil, right and wrong.
The Fleshly Life Looks Forward To The Impermanent And Uncertain Love From This World
Every day in this world whether at work, at home, or elsewhere, we face choices. How do you make your decisions? How do you choose in a way that aligns with God’s will? We cannot rely solely on quoting Scripture, we must truly understand God’s Word, and above all, it is our relationship with God.
Let me now compare our spiritual life with our fleshly life. First, let us glance at our fleshly life. When we were children, whom did we look up to? Of course our parents, right? Why? Because they not only provided us with a good education and a stable environment but, more importantly, we relied on them for love and care.
I currently teaching in secondary school that make up of students aged ten and older. Today’s children aren’t good at keeping family matters private, and my students are no exception. At school, they openly share what happens at home. They’ll say, ‘Teacher, do you know what happened with my parents? They had a fight!’ The reason they tell you is because they are trying to seek for your attention. It’s clear that what these children crave is worldly love and care from others. And honestly, we adults are no different. As we grew physically, we too sought love from this world.
I have to admit, many parents at my school only provide for their children’s material needs, including branded clothes, smartphones, tablets, laptops, and so on, but neglect their psychological well-being. As a result, some kids suffer from depression at a young age. Our school has even arranged counselling for students in need, as some struggle with sudden emotional breakdowns in class. A few weeks ago, while I was teaching, a girl suddenly burst into tears till her eyes were red and swollen. I asked a classmate to accompany her to the restroom, but after 15 minutes, she still hadn’t returned. So, I assigned the class some work and went to check on her. When I asked what was wrong, she told me that she came from a very complicated family. I was surprised because I’d never heard of any issues with her before. We teachers often share information about students’ backgrounds to better understand and teach them. Later, I learned the problem wasn’t from her family’s situation but instead her own self. Her parents gave her the best of everything, but they were too busy with work to give her the love she needed. She lived with her grandparents, and the lack of parental affection led to her depression.
Spiritual Life Looks Forward To The Eternal Love From The One True God
I just talked about our fleshly life, but what about our spiritual life? Just as our physical growth requires love, so does our spiritual growth. Yet this love is fundamentally different from the world’s love, this love comes from the eternal and reliable one true only God. Who do we expect to give us this love? We thank God, for we have Jesus Christ as our example. Christ himself looked to Yahweh God, and as we establish relationship with him, we too are brought into relationship with God. Let us hold firmly to this truth, for it is the very important key to our spiritual growth.
Along the journey of spiritual growth, we may encounter countless teachings and acquire vast knowledge to help us, but these may not necessarily make our spiritual life grow. Why? Because God’s words are alive, so when we learn God’s words, we must put His words into practice, moving beyond intellectual belief to embodied obedience.
Having understood both the physical life and the spiritual life, we see they share similarities yet remain fundamentally distinct. But more than anything, I hope we grasp that our spiritual needs far outweigh our physical ones. We need Jesus Christ to lead us, and we must fully commit ourselves to Christ, for only through Christ can we come before God.
We Want To Be Branches Of The Lord Jesus, Growing In Him And Abide With Him.
Next, I will use a parable from the Bible to help you understand better the importance of commitment and spiritual growth. You may all be familiar with this parable, which is in John chapter 15, verses 1-2 and 4-7. Let’s read it:
“I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit… Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. “
I believe everyone is familiar with the verses of the parable of the vine. The “abide” mentioned in this parable is like saying, I abide in you, you abide in me. What does this “abide” mean? The English version of the Bible uses the word “abide”, which has a deeper meaning than the Chinese “remain”. “Abide” is not just remain, but also means obedience and endurance.
In the opening verse of this parable, the Lord Jesus declares: ‘I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser’. Here, Jesus identifies Yahweh Father cultivates and nurtures him. When the Lord Jesus said that we abide in him, we grow together with this vine, so we are also growing under God’s cultivation. But what can we learn from Christ in this abiding relationship? And why must we learn from Him?
Think about it, to abide in Christ is like moving into a home, you need love to stay there, right? If you don’t have this love, can you live there? Without love, could you truly stay? It’s like dating: you wouldn’t begin a relationship with just anyone. No, you’re drawn by admiration, a deep affection and respect, only then does the bond begin. In the same way, to abide in the Lord Jesus, we must have this admiration for him. What I mean by admiration is a deep love with respect, and then you will be united with him, or more appropriately, we become intertwined with him, tethered tightly, inseparable.
However, we must also understand that living together does not mean that we can be connected, especially in today’s society. For example, if we rent a house with three rooms, one person stay in each room, and the three tenants may never have met each other. Just like me and another tenant now, although we live under the same roof, we don’t see each other often. Sometimes, we don’t see each other for several days. This is because I go to bed earlier and she comes home later. In the morning, I go out at six o’clock, while she goes out later than me. We may only meet a few times a week or when we happen to sit down at the same time to have a chance to chat. Otherwise, we are all doing our own things and there is no communication.
To truly intertwine means that both parties will make efforts to build up this intimate relationship. It sounds simple, but deep connection is never easy. Sometimes, we even struggle to build an intimate relationship with our family members who we’ve lived with for years, let alone strangers. Isn’t that true?
A Relationship With God And The Lord Jesus Must Be In Two-Way To Be Established
I come from a big family. I have 11 siblings in total, and I am among youngest ones. When I was young, I didn’t think it was a problem for my family to have close relationships. As I grew older, I began to realize that although I often saw my brothers and sisters, I could not have close relationships with everyone, especially my brothers who were much older than me. The main reason was that we lacked communication. To build up a close relationship, you must not only spend time communicating, but also persist in it. Because if you only have the opportunity to chat occasionally, and don’t communicate the rest of the time, the relationship will not be rooted.
In addition, when you decide to commit in this relationship, you need to make sacrifices. If a family hopes to maintain strong bonds among all its members, every individual must make effort but not just one or a few. Otherwise, the relationship cannot be established. The same applies to the family of Christ. We cannot just expect the Lord Jesus and God to love us unilaterally, and we remain motionless. If we want the Lord Jesus to abide in us and we abide in him, we must first have that love for the Lord Jesus, or that persistence in loving God. When we are willing to unite with him to start up this intimate relationship, we will not allow anything to hinder us, that is, we will persistently and resolutely pursue deeper closeness with Him
Bearing Fruits Has Two Meanings: 1) Spiritual Fruit; 2) Spreading The Gospel
Just now we saw that the Lord Jesus said in John 15:5, ” I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without me you can do nothing.” Some dictionaries interpret bearing fruit as an eternal or lasting relationship. This also means that we must persist in establishing this eternal relationship with the Lord Jesus, and we will bear much fruit. In fact, we all know that in Bible, fruit carries two meanings.
The first meaning can be seen in Galatians 5:22-23, which speaks of this fruit as spiritual fruit:
“But the fruit that comes from having the Holy Spirit in our lives is: love, joy, peace, not giving up, being kind, being good, having faith, being gentle, and being the boss over our own desires. The Law is not against these things.”
As we maintain an enduring relationship with Jesus, our lives will progressively bear the fruit of the Spirit.
Remember when I first asked about your spiritual condition? If you’re unsure how to assess it, examine whether these spiritual fruits are growing in your life, you might have the answer.
As for the second meaning of fruit, let’s first look at the next verse, which is Romans 1:13,
“Now I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that I often planned to come to you (but was hindered until now), that I might have some fruit among you also, just as among the other Gentiles.”
Here, the “fruit” is referring to leading people to believe in Christ. When we abide in the Lord and he abides in us, this describes whether we can bear spiritual fruit. The only reason we are able to bear spiritual fruit is because Christ has given us new life, empowering us to reflect his nature. This transformed character becomes both evidence of his work in us. If we can convey this new life to others and leading others to faith in Chris, it means that we are bearing fruits.
I know that it is not easy to lead people to believe in the Lord. Many times, we have a very promising start. Those new people are willing to accept Christ at the beginning, which fills me with great hope and encouragement. But suddenly, these people will tell you that for various reasons, it is difficult for him/her to become a Christian, so he/she declines. In fact, we must remember that preaching the gospel is not our solo work, but we must cooperate with the Lord to do this fruit-bearing work. We must be closely united with the Lord, and of course God is also behind us to push us.
Let me add a brief conclusion here: Fruit-bearing has a dual meaning. The first is to bear spiritual fruit, which is closely related to our spiritual life. The second meaning of bearing fruit is to lead new people to believe in the Lord.
Actions Speak Louder Than Words.
I would like to share with you my personal experience in leading people to believe in the Lord. When I was working in Taiwan, I attend a church there. Once, the pastor took me along to share the gospel. Since it was my first time evangelizing, I was eager to learn how to begin. The usual approach of this church was to bring people together and sit down, and then start talking about the country’s politics, especially stories about Chiang Kai-shek. They usually start with similar topics before transitioning to sharing the gospel. Eventually, I realized I wasn’t comfortable with this method, so I stopped doing it that way.
Indeed, when we preach the gospel or bear this fruit, we must first engage in genuine conversation with people before gradually introducing the message of salvation. One of the most effective ways to preach the gospel is through living out our faith, that is, to let those non-believers see the qualities of Christ in us, witnessing the work and power of God in us, and prove to them that we are people with true religious beliefs and that the God we believe in is the one and only true God.
I still remember one morning, I was going to church. I usually take public transportation, but that day I was a bit tight on time, so I took a taxi, hoping to get to church quickly. Unfortunately, the driver drove very slow, making me very impatient. Suddenly, the driver said to me, “I think you look like a religious person.” I was a little shocked, and then I asked him how he could tell, and he said, “I see that your face is always full of smiles.” Honestly, I didn’t smile very much that day, but I didn’t understand how he could see that I was full of smiles. I told him that I was going to church, and then I took the opportunity to chat with him. In fact, being able to do this is the beginning of bearing fruit. We don’t need a grand plans or earth-shaking methods to preach the gospel. As long as your life can reflect this spiritual life, you can connect with people and preach the gospel through the spiritual fruits you bear.
Preaching The Gospel Is Something We Need To Do Together As A Family, It Is Not A Solitary Task
Do you think it is important to bear fruit? You might think that not bearing fruit doesn’t matter much, as long as I believe that the Lord Jesus was crucified and resurrected, it will be fine, right? This kind of thinking is incorrect. If we don’t bear fruit, it means that we don’t have this new life yet, our lives have not been transformed by God, and we ourselves have not fully allowed God to cultivate spiritual life in us. From another perspective, only when our lives are changed by God can we bear the fruit of the Holy Spirit. Ensuing from our life changing and the bearing the fruit of Holy Spirit, we can draw others to God and produce bear even more fruit.
From this we can see that the difference between bearing fruit and not bearing fruit is critically important. The consequence of not bearing fruit is that our lives remain unchanged. If this is the case, the gospel we are preaching is in human way or in our own way, rather than God’s way. But, when you are preaching the gospel in God’s way, you will experience something different.
You all know that I don’t drive. I usually take the bus, subway or other public transportation. So I have a higher chance of meeting people. Once, I was on public transportation and a middle-aged lady sat next to me, and we started chatting. She said she was also a Christian. I happened to have a Fu Yin Dian Tai (a radio channel that preaching gospel) handbook in my bag, so I handed it to her. I said, “You can take it and read it.” It was such an opportunity that we can share the word of God. Although I don’t know what the outcome will be, I am sowing seeds, just like what is said in 1 Corinthians 3:6-9,
“I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase.So then neither he who plants is anything, nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase. Now he who plants and he who waters are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building.”
The message of this passage is that evangelism is a collective effort, not a task for individuals alone. In the process of evangelism, some people sow, some people cultivate, and some people water. Each person has a role to play, and in time, fruit will grow. Think about it, if a tree bears one fruit, you will be happy, right? What if the tree can bear many fruits, you sure will be overjoyed. So, fruit-bearing is very important. If we can bear this fruit for God through the Lord Jesus Christ, we are delighted, and God will be even more delighted. Because the Lord Jesus said in John 15:8: “By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.”
Every Branch That Bears Fruit Is Pruned, And Every Branch That Does Not Bear Fruit Is Cut Off
On the contrary, if we do not bear fruit, our ending will be like what the Lord Jesus said in John 15:2: “He is the true vine, and His Father is the vinedresser. Any branch belonging to the Lord Jesus that does not bear fruit will be cut off by God; and any branch that bears fruit He prunes so that it will bear more fruit.”
Have any of you planted fruit trees? If so, you must know that regular pruning is essential. Fruit trees that are not pruned are low in production or bear no fruits at all. Therefore, pruning is a very vital step in cultivating trees.
In our lives, we will inevitably experience or face some suffering or hardships. When these happen, we often blame God and wonder why God deliberately makes things difficult for us. But in truth, these sufferings might be God’s way of pruning us, so that we can bear even more fruit.
Recently, I wanted to get a pair of glasses. My myopia (near-sightedness) is not very severe, but I want to get checked because I have presbyopia (age-related far-sightedness). With the introduction of my co-worker’s daughter, I went to an optometrist. After the examination, he told me that my eye pressure was very high, about 300 mmHg (normal eye pressure is 10 to 21 mmHg). The optometrist suspected that I might have glaucoma. After hearing this, I went back to check what glaucoma is. It is a condition of the optic nerve damages which can lead to vision loss or even blindness. I began to worry because eyes are very important to everyone. For me, I need to look at the computer and I need to read the Bible. Again, through the recommendation of my co-worker’s daughter, I went to see an ophthalmologist. Unexpectedly, he said that my eye pressure was fine, not very high, but there was a slight cataract and asked me to come back for a follow-up consultation in a year. After hearing this, I felt a bit more at ease. Otherwise, I would have had to start prepare memorizing the Bible and the books I need to read.
Indeed, no matter what age you are, you will face different problems. The elderly have their own struggles, especially with health issues, while the young also have their own problems. However, we must learn not to complain no matter what happen; instead, we should give thanks to God and draw near to Him with a positive attitude, allowing Him to work in our lives and refine us through every circumstance.
As the Scripture says, God cuts off unfruitful branches, and the purpose of His pruning is so that the branches may bear even more fruit. But if, after being pruned, you still fail to bear fruit, what will the consequence be? Do you have fruit trees at home? If a tree consistently produces no fruit, would you keep it? Would you let it to stay? I believe you already know the answer.
I remember when I was a kid, my dad planted a durian tree. Back then, growing durians wasn’t like it is now where you can get a harvest quickly, it required a long waiting period. Unfortunately, my dog bit off the roots of the durian tree. My dad tried to save the tree, but after a long time of ” treatment”, the tree showed no signs of recovery. Eventually, he decided to cut it down and planted a new one. The new tree ended up grew up successfully and blessing us with an abundance of durians.
Therefore, we must remember that God will prune us so that we can bear fruit, but if we remain unfruitful, He will cut us off, which means abandoning us. For us Christians, this serves as a solemn warning. From this we can see that bearing fruit is absolutely vital for our spiritual growth as believers, and we must never overlook it.
Purifying Our Hearts Through God’s Word
Moreover, we must constantly remind ourselves that the Words of God including and the message of the Lord has power to purify us. As Hebrews 4:12 declares:
“For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”
This means that the Word of God not only can be integrated into our lives, but also can reveal our thoughts, minds, and even permeate our entire being to help us grow.
So do not think that God’s words merely linger upon us or are just for us to listen, do not assume that God does not know what is in our hearts. When we realize that there is something wrong with our thoughts or mindset, we should immediately come before God to confess and repent, asking Him to remove the evil in our hearts, and do not let this evil or sin take root in us. For example, if you dislike someone in your heart, you might think it’s no big deal, after all they don’t know, and it doesn’t hurt them. But when you have this slightly hateful thought, you are not vigilant to remove it yourself, this dislike can slowly turn into hatred, and it might even develop into violent harm, especially if you are a person with fluctuating emotions.
Finally, I want to share with you a favourite verse from John 15:7,
“If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.”
Wow, that is marvellous, isn’t it? Whatever you want, you just ask Him and you’ll get it. You ask for money and you get money, you ask for a house and you get a house, right? Well, have you ever tried asking? Did you get what you asked? If no, do you know why?
Have you noticed what the premise when you are asking God? If you abide in me, my words also abide in you. This means that the Words of God must not only reside in our hearts, but the life of the Lord Jesus must also within us. When we pray, we are no longer asking for our own selfish desires, we would rather pray with the same heart and mind as Jesus. Only then, God will answer us and fulfil our prayers. However, if we do not abide in the Lord, no matter what we ask for, our prayers will be in vain. We will feel that our prayers are just talking to ourselves, and we have not receive what we asked for ourselves. This is because we pray for what we want for ourselves and not pray according to God’s will.
One Must Be A Christian Who Communes With God In The Heart, Allowing The Lord Jesus To Dwell Within Us, In Order To Foster The Growth Of Our Spiritual Life
Now, let’s move to the last point. Let’s see why did the Lord Jesus use the parable of branches and the vine in his teaching? In fact, in this parable, he was talking about one of the methods of grafting plants. This method is to graft the bud or branch of one plant onto another plant, so that the two joined parts grow into a complete plant. After the grafting, the quality of the plant will become better, and the weaker plant will become stronger. In the Bible, the vine represents Israel, and the branches symbolize us Gentiles. We must be grafted into this vine, connected to it, so that we can grow strong and thrive.
But remember, not every grafting will be successful. If you have done this before, you will know that it is not a simple process. If there is a bacterial infection during the grafting or the two plants failed to join together, they will not just stop growing but may even die.
On the surface, this is a simple parable, but in fact, this parable brings out the importance of our Christian growth. This growth can be divided into two aspects, the external growth and the internal growth. External growth is what we can see with our eyes, it’s not difficult to recognise because it’s visible. In contrast, internal growth is truly invisible to our physical sight. Just as I mentioned earlier about bacterial infection, we cannot see it directly. We can only observe its effects through the plant’s development, such as yellowing leaves, decay, or the appearance of pests. Only then can we detect whether infection is present.
This also shows that our relationship with God can be superficial or profound. The superficial meaning is that we can see everything we do, such as coming for weekly Sunday Worship, participating in Bible study classes, prayer meetings, church activities, etc. However, if we do not earnestly communicate with God in our hearts, and devoid of the vitality and qualities of Christ, we cannot bear any spiritual fruit or any fruit of evangelism.
Let’s use a heart transplant as an example. When a person undergoes a heart transplant, he or she receives a heart from another person and places it into the body. If there is no rejection, the person can continue to live with the new heart. However, if the person’s body rejects the foreign heart, it means that the body’s system cannot accept the heart. Worse still, the rejection can be fatal.
Similarly, what is being discussed here is our spiritual life. Why is it mainly about the branches and the vine? It’s actually to show us that it’s not just about outward growth; the most crucial thing is that we must have that inner connection, which is communion with the Lord. Only then can our lives bear fruit.
For example, if the relationship between husband and wife is only good on the surface, but they don’t communicate heart-to-heart, then divorce might be the ending of their marriage. For husband and wife, how can they communicate? I can use my parents as example. Although my parents are not Christians, they spend time chatting with each other every night after dinner. They chat on the swing or in patio outside the house, and we, as children, are not allowed to interrupt them. If we go out, they’d shooed us back inside. They usually chat for an hour or two before they entering inside the house. They do this every day. Even if we go out, such as to the night market, we don’t follow our parents like other children, but our brothers will drive us there. My parents will walk to the night market together, chatting as they walk. They always willing spending time in communicating with each other, so their relationship is very good. I have never seen them quarrelling, on the contrary, I can see that harmony in them.
I shared the example of my parents mainly to let you know that an effective communication requires consistent effort from both sides. The same practice applies to our communication with Jesus Christ. We should communicate with the Lord Jesus continuously every day. This communication is not just an external communication, but more importantly, an internal communication and union. As Scripture says, Christ must abide in us, and we must abide in Him. Only then we can develop the spiritual qualities that can help us to bear fruit. Furthermore, our spiritual life can grow unceasingly as well, just like a branch successfully grafted into the vine will become stronger and more fruitful. When we maintain fellowship with the Lord Jesus, we will naturally develop a reverence for God, and our relationship with the Father will grow deeper. On the contrary, if we do not communicate with the Lord Jesus, we will be withered, eliminated and ultimately being discarded.
In summary, the growth of our spiritual life depends on our communication with the Lord Jesus, because the scriptures have said that we can approach God through the Lord Jesus Christ. If we rely on the Lord Jesus Christ and abide in him, then we can continue to grow and bear fruit; but if we leave him, we can do nothing.
Let’s make a closing prayer:
“Our Father in heaven, thank You for Your words and reminders today. We are so busy living in this world every day that we don’t even have time to communicate with You. We ask for Your forgiveness and hope that through Your words, we can be strengthened so that we can establish a more solid eternal relationship with You, so that we can live out the style of a fruitful Christian and bring people to know You. We know that all of this cannot be done by our own ability, so we also pray that the Holy Spirit will work in our hearts to help us, increase our strength, and make our spiritual life more powerful. When we face problems, we can rely on You. When we face some problems that we can’t solve, we can look up to You and get solutions from you. We look up to You and entrust all of this to you. Please continue to lead us in our lives, Amen.”
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