Discipleship Done For Me

“If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish and it will be done for you.  By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.”  (John 15:7,8 ESV)

The promise of the first half of this promise seems too good to be true,  like  a magic formula to unlock endless power and influence.  And yet there it is: God will do stuff for us, if we would simply ask from a place of abiding in Christ and letting his words abide in us.

Certainly it is this abiding business that tempers the things we would ask for by aligning our requests with fruitful, eternal things rather than silly distractions like fame and fortune.

Still though, too often I approach prayer backwards by asking myself, “What would be a good, Godly request that He would surely answer and therefore prove that I am a good Christ-abiding citizen of the Kingdom?”  Ha!  How manipulative I so easily lean.  No, first comes the abiding, then the asking.

The other curious, naturally religious tendency of mine is when I try to imagine good prayers that surely God would answer, they are typically external prayers: requests for someone’s health, for someone’s salvation, for the success of some ministry.

Surely there is a place to pray prayers like this.  But what God is after is His glory.  And according to this passage, His glory is simply me bearing fruit.  It seems Christ is calling me first to pray internal requests; prayers that when answered bears fruit in my life …love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control (Gal 5:22,23).  Then, as John 15:8 points out, it is this fruit that proves I’m a disciple of Christ.

It is mind bending enough to think that God will do stuff for me.  But it is a holy mystery that the evidence of my discipleship is fruit that is ‘done’ for me.  When I think discipleship, I  often think gritting teeth and will power to do the right thing.  But here it is: my responsibility is to abide; God’s responsibility is making me bear fruit.

Nice.  But practically?

This morning, while still lying in bed, I prayed prayers of determination to not waste any time today on iPhone games.  A few hours in and I failed.  But then taking time to work on my John 15 memorization, my prayer of response was hi-jacked by a divine command to simply remove the offending app from my phone.  I considered.  I wanted to keep the option and figured I could control the app usage.  But clearly, what really is there to control?  Why keep the option to be fruitless in my life?  And so, I obeyed and deleted the app.

Frankly, this is a little embarrassing to write.  But I must give credit where credit is due.  Maybe there are people out there who can will-power themselves to do the right thing.  But I can’t.  The words of Christ abiding in me brings such clarity that bearing fruit — in this case, self-control — becomes the most natural thing ever.  Naturally divine, in the same way any healthy fruit-bearing tree gives glory to a God of sweet generosity.

Fear and Friendship

“The friendship of the Lord is for those who fear him,…”
– Psalm 25:14 (ESV)

“You are my friends if you do what I command you.”
– John 15:14 (ESV)

I’ve always thought that these were strange, almost paradoxical verses. But only just the other day did it strike me how these verses from different testaments are essentially teaching the same thing. It drew me up short. This is worth investigating more closely.

It is a given that we should fear God and obey Him. It is a given that we should have a relationship with God. But that fearing Him should be a prerequisite to friendship with Him …that is fresh thinking (to me, anyway).

I find this connection very helpful, because for non-touchy-feely people like me, it takes the ambiguity out this relational aspect with God.  Actually, I suppose this connection would be even more valuable for those touchy-feely people out there.

As intimidating as these verses might seem at first glance, they really are beautiful promises.  The beauty to me is in just how accessible God makes His friendship.  For something as quantitative as obedience from me, he exchanges something as qualitative as his friendship.

Often, we think of responding to God in fear and obedience because He is worthy.  And we think of  responding to Him in friendship because of His love.  But if fear and friendship are so closely related, maybe I need to be pursuing obedience in response to His love; friendship in response to his worthiness.  How would that change things?

The cutting question, though, that I have to ask myself is, “If indeed I need fear and obedience to be befriended by God, how am I doing, really, in my relationship with God?”

Oh Lord, make me know your ways.  Teach me your paths.  Nothing in this world comes close to attaining friendship with you.  Show me what needs to be released.  Make plain to me what needs to be submitted.  I won’t stay back in fear, but step out in courageous obedience because I know your friendship is waiting.