Look For the Fruit

This past week was hard. I found out that someone close to me had been deceiving me for quite some time. The deception was really not that surprising; but, the depths to which this person has fallen was quite a disappointment. Furthermore, I have expended a lot of time and energy pouring myself into her trying to impact her life for Christ. When you do that, you can't help but take it personally. But that is exactly what God wants. God makes it pretty clear. If you love him, then you have to love people. You can't separate the two; he wants you to feel it.
When I say that I wasn't surprised by the turn of events, it's because I have been watching her behavior for quite some time. This individual, who claimed to know Christ, continually was making decisions that were not compatible with her "belief" system. I've discovered that Satan uses this tool quite often to tarnish the Bride of Christ/the Church. Our lives as believers should be different than those of non-believers. Otherwise, what good is our faith?  There seems to be nothing more damaging than a Christian who is not genuine or appears to be insincere. This spurned quite a few discussions about how one can really know if someone is a true believer or not. Not coincidentally, I am still working on my James bible study. James is straight to the point about this one. He tells us that to the extent you live it, is the extent you believe it. No matter what you confess with your mouth, if your behavior (works) don't back it up, then you probably don't really believe it with your heart either.
I started really thinking about this and had a revelation about why God might tell us as his children what our number one priority should be. Three times the bible tells us what the greatest commandment is for those of us who are believers. (Deut 6:5, Mark 12:30,Luke 10:27)
"One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?” “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. ³⁰ Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ ³¹ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’There is no commandment greater than these.” -Mark 12:28-30

1. Love with all your HEART: The heart is the seat of our emotions. It drives our passions and our expressions of those passions. I think when someone accepts Christ as their "Savior", it is a heart decision. Apparently 85% of people believe in some type of after-life. Unfortunately, most people think that if their good deeds outweigh their bad, that somehow that will provide some type of security for their eternity. The truth is, there is nothing we can DO that guarantees us salvation. It's what Christ did that provides that. Realizing that someone died for you, even before you acknowledged him, evokes emotion. Coming to the realization that you need him to save you from yourself, is a heart decision. Unfortunately, the world is constantly seeking to control your passions and it is possible for love to grow cold.

2. Love with all your MIND:  The mind is the seat of our intellect, the ability to reason. The entire message of the Gospel is about repentance. Jesus did not preach about changing our hearts, but rather about changing our minds. (Do not conform to the pattern of the world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is. Rom 12:2), (Set your minds on things above, not earthly things. Col 3:2) Loving God with all your mind is about making Jesus your Lord, not just your Savior.  Unless your mind is under God's authority, your intellect will eventually attempt to talk you out his lordship over your life. The heart feels it, but the mind seals it. When Jesus is Lord in your life, you will do what he asks of you whether you 'feel' like it or not. Jesus provided us with a very powerful parable about two types of believers in Matthew 21: 28-31. I  think this parable has settled this issue for me. It is possible to be believer in Christ ( by making him your Savior on emotional level), but never submit to his Lordship. This explains the son in the parable who said the right words, but didn't follow them up with deeds of obedience. No where does God tell us it is okay to love him only with our hearts. In fact, quite the opposite. "Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven." Matt 7:21.

3. Love with all your STRENGTH: Our strength represents our natural abilities,gifts, and talents.  When God gives us instructions, there is an order to how he does it. It is deliberate. It was meant to flow from the heart, to the mind and then to the body.  Hebrews 8:10 puts it this way:
 This is the covenant I will establish with the people of Israel
   after that time, declares the Lord.
I will put my laws in their minds
   and write them on their hearts.
I will be their God,
   and they will be my people.
The fact is that as the church, we are the body of Christ here on Earth. Once you have accepted him as your Savior, you are part of that church. Setting your mind on obedience to his laws, whether you feel it or not, is part of loving him back for what he has done for you. It is making him Lord, and Savior. God knows that once you have done those two things, then and only then will your behavior will change. This is the only way we can be the church God has called us to be. As believers, we are each given gifts meant to be expressed for the Kingdom. The bible calls this fruit. Sure it is certainly possible to be generous, loving, hospitable, or encouraging apart from Christ. But these are the leaves on the tree, not the life giving fruitful harvest a hungry world is looking for.  None of these deeds are fruitful unless He is the motivation for it; our walk has to equal our talk. This only will happen when as believers we submit not just our hearts, but our minds and our talents to Jesus. The bottom line is this; how do you know if someone loves Jesus with all their heart, mind, and strength?
"Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them." Matt 7:20 If you don't see any fruit, proceed with extreme caution, especially in relationships that involve intimacy or trust. Certainly it is possible for each of us to have areas of our lives that need some pruning work. I am thinking God used this example with my 'friend' to show me an extreme case and to make me mindful how he is constantly at work to bring us under his lordship in the areas of our lives that need it most.