On Bearing Fruit . . .

 Wisdom is know by her children. Another way of saying that is she is know by her fruit. What we reap is evidence of what we've sown. Everything planted underground, which is that what we put in secret and cover and water, will sprout. If one is, in secret, a sinner, it will grow into greater sin. If one is righteous in secret, it likewise will grow into greater righteousness. This is the nature of the supernatural; it is always a seed that will grow. This is why Jesus constantly refers to the Spiritual as having to do with fields, vineyards, crops, seeds, soil, etc. It's because it must be watered, must be kept, must be weeded, must be guarded. All things, we are given accountability to.

 But when we ourselves become the proverbial fig tree . . . What must we do?

 Bear fruit.

 Now, i'm not talking about some simple thing we can manage of our own accord; "Random Acts of Kindness," anyone can do. Not to say that specific gesture is without credence, but it's hardly a fruit of the Spirit when the world is just as capable as us. That could be, with the correct motive (glory given to God), a fruit of the Spirit, if we are led to it. But that's not what separates Christians from the world.

 Anyone can love those who are pleasant and lovely, which is why Jesus told us specifically to love our enemies. We are to love our neighbors as ourselves, and our neighbor is anyone put in our path, not merely the person of close residence. Neighbors are often our enemies, and enemies are often our neighbors, because those who wish us harm are oftentimes those who we are or have associated with.

 Do you know what it means to love an enemy? Do you know what it feels like to shake hands and to hug someone whom you know to be devising against you? Do you know what it's like to genuinely hope for their well-being?
 It's probably pretty difficult. In fact, i'd even dare say it's impossible for the flesh to accomplish some such feats.

 In 2006, in Pennsylvania, an armed man entered an Amish schoolroom of girls ranging from 6-13 years old with the intention of molestation. He killed five of them, and shot more. This would seem an unforgivable act. But there are those who are entirely unworldly, who are no more of this world than Christ is, who are able to attend the funeral of the perpetrator, look his family in the eyes and embrace them, and even contribute to his family's well-being. They forgave something i (and most others) could never dream of forgiving.

 Mark 11 tells us of Jesus being hungry and seeing a fig tree in leaf, though out of season for figs. Regardless, He approached it and found none on it, so He cursed it. The next morning, He and His disciples were passing back by and saw that it had died completely to its roots. It concludes with a message about faith, and He says, "whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses." (v. 25)

 There are some interesting details about that little occurrence. For one, it was out of season for figs. Despite that, Jesus still cursed it. Another thing is He would've known before approaching it that it had no figs, not just because it was out of season but also because He is Christ--He knows things.

 Christ doesn't want us to produce only when we're in season, only when we're strong in faith or ready to take on a mission. He wants us producing now. At His approach. And the sad thing is, that tree reflects so many Christians. It's green. Looks healthy. It's in leaf. But it has no fruit.
 A quote i often sarcastically use is, "We're all about appearances here." That's exactly how so many Christians these days are, though; as long as we look Christian, as long as we give the appearance, we're okay. But no, this is fruitlessness!

 We don't even produce fruit in season (when things are going well), let alone out of season (we curse the sky when it falls--praise God for holding it up as long as He has!).

 If we're patient and loving and gentle and faithful (and the rest of the list from Galatians 5:22-23) when we have a roof over our heads, financial and emotional and physical security, and when we're healthy and have a computer to blog on, that we're doing pretty good at living by the Spirit and bearing good fruit.
 Take it all away; no water, no heat, no shelter, sleeping on the ground in the rain, eating the refuse of others, what do we have? Joy? Peace? This is the out-of-season that God expects us to bear fruit in. This is His approach. And if we can't offer such fruits as He asks for when we have nothing else, when we just have Him before us and asking us to be patient and self-controlled, we will be cursed and will wither to the roots, fit and ready to be thrown into the fire.

 It's not enough to simply be Christian. We have to be like Christ. It was not yet His "season," and even still He turned water to wine--the best wine at that.

 We can't settle for loving those that love us, but no less than compassionate for those that harm us. While we are still enemies, we must be reconciled to others that wish ill against us. This is bearing fruit out of season. Any fig tree can produce in season, but it takes one living for Christ to produce fruit out of season. Any worldly person can love those that love them, but it takes a Christian to truly and selflessly lay down their life for someone that hates them. And this is what Christ demands of us.

 Disclaimer: i am by no means perfect. I could not, presently, do as i've been writing. Forgiving a minor offense is simple enough. Love always trusts, though, and i'm one of the most untrusting people there is. I have witnessed too many hypocrites (of which i am the chief)--i don't want to see a perfect person, i just want to see people genuinely trying. And that's where the problem lies; i have too long been around too many churched people outside of Christian gatherings to trust but the fewest of few, because "nobody's perfect," so they refuse to even try to be Christian outside of the church walls.

 Tallying it up, there are literally six people outside of immediate family that have my legitimate trust. And i've learned that people are people; my faith does not rest in their faith. To see any of these fall, i've learned to callous myself in this way, would not make me falter.

One Bad Apple

 There are certain things that have a cascading effect. Sin leads to sin leads to sin; where sin abides, sin increases. Where faithfulness abides, faithfulness increases. Over the ages, i'd like to say God has, in some aged-like-fine-wine sort of way, become more faithful, but that's not so. The moment of absolute faithfulness to His people was the moment when He said, "Let there be light!"
 I say this because He already existed as omniscient and total. He did not need light, for He was already the light (we are given the image of the Spiritual "light" of God in Revelation 21, where it says, "And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb."). That means the first Word of creation was for us, not His, yet it was for His glory.

 Without getting too far off-track, let me explain the cascading effect; if you have a seed you can plant it and it will grow; if properly pollinated, and granting you don't cut the bloom(s), it will go to seed. If it is allowed to go the way of nature, it will drop several seeds, each one creating a new plant. Each one of those will multiply and, before several seasons have passed, one seed has taken over an entire field.
 Another example is the all-too-familiar saying, "One bad apple spoils the bunch." Basically, during the decomposition process of certain fruits, ethylene is emitted, and that speeds the ripening process and, soon thereafter, rots neighboring fruit prematurely. One rotting apple in a bag or basket causes the adjacent to begin to decay, and it subsequently "infects" the next, and so forth. Potatoes do this, too.
 So there are two metaphors in nature for this effect, one showing how good things multiply if left to their natural devices, and one showing how things turn sour if not quarantined immediately.

 To apply this in the Spiritual, as said, sin creates sin successively. What starts as "minor" sins, such as envy, can, if not put into submission, grow into a "major" sin, such as theft. Anger turns into hate and then into violence and finally into murder. Lust into adultery, gossip into slander, and so on. This is why the emotion of sin is the same as the sin itself. It must be killed before it takes root, before a bruise on the apple festers and spreads.
 Likewise, faithfulness does the same; one act of faithfulness will, if not put into submission, result in another. Giving a few cents could, through the same process of virulence, eventually lead a person to buy lunch for a stranger or far better things.
 These are but simple examples, and there are far more profound ones, but they suffice for the intended message.

 And, while i could never hope to be an example of sinlessness (that is Jesus alone; i'm merely a shade of the first Adam that is trying to stand in the Light of the Second Adam), i've come to understand the key ingredient to quelling sin; love. That sounds generic and cheesy, but it's a very solid truth. A great love results in great faithfulness; if you love your spouse you will not cheat on her, if you love your child you will not withhold necessary things, if you love your parents you will not do what they said not to. On the contrary, if you love your wife you will love showering her with affection and adoration, if you love your child you will discipline them and cherish them, if you love your parents you will do what they ask of you without grumbling. Love creates devotion. To love God is to obey Him. To love God is to honor Him. To love God is to run to Him in times of distress, as a child to their Father.

 I have tried to fight sin on my own terms, in my own means, and failed every single time. This is no coincidence. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak, and that's not an excuse; it's a fact. The times i've run to God, cried out, "I love You" to Him when being assaulted, though, He turns my focus away from whatever it is that's leading me away and turns me back to Him.
 This is why loving God is the greatest commandment; it causes us to eagerly obey the others. This is why loving our neighbor is the second; it causes us to get the focus off the bad of ourselves (sin) and onto the good of others. In other words, our desire for sin becomes a desire for God when we love Him and others instead of ourselves. Make a point of doing a small act of love and it will beg another. Continue sowing the seeds of faithfulness and it will turn into joyous servitude, but will also turn you away from prideful sin.
 Our cure for sin is genuine love, for God and for our neighbors/enemies. Here's how; envy, when quelled with love, is turned into generosity, anger is into hope for the object of your bitterness' well-being, gossip into encouragement, et cetera.
 Abide in love, and you will abide in obedience and uprightness. Where sin is sown, sin will continue to spread. Where love is sown, love will abound.

 If we seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, joy in obedience as well as refuge from Satan's attacks shall be added unto us (i firmly believe these to be included in "all these things". After all, if seeking that first had no Spiritual promise it would hardly be meritorious, and every last word of Christ is laced with merit.

Too Busy . . .

So, brainstorming last night, after a time in which such an occurrence would've been most advantageous, even healthy, i came across an interesting verse. In all actuality, what brought me to this particular verse was an 'extra-reading prompt' in a book.
The verse that has becmoe the object of my attention and fascination is Psalm 37:3.

"Trust in the Lord, and do good;
dwell in the land and befriend faithfulness."

I love that. There are various types of poetry in the Bible, and this verse is of a particular type where the first line is supplemented by the second without furthering degrees.
That's focusing on the technical, and nothing technical is ever quite as beautiful as the poetic, so i want to bring out something especially poetic about this verse.

A friend is someone you enjoy the company of, someone you trust, converse with, observe, and admire.
It's not the person you think, "Oh, well maybe this would be better without them."
No, a friend is the person who makes things more pleasant just by having them around, someone you discuss things with and have room in your mind and schedule for. Anything else is not true friendship.
And here, in this verse, the Bible says to befriend faithfulness as if it were an incarnate being, tangible and living.

Wisdom, likewise, is given imagery as a woman crying out in the streets.
Wisdom is the person we all glance at as we walk past, avoid eye contact, and say we wish her the best, all the while secretly having some sort of pity for her.

"Wisdom cries aloud in the street,
in the markets she raises her voice;
at the head of the noisy streets she cries out;
at the entrance of the city gates she speaks..."

That's Proverbs 1:20-21.
To make a correlation, here's a verse from Psalm 24:

"Lift up your heads, O gates!
And be lifted up, O ancient doors,
that the King of glory may come in."

Lift up your heads, O gates! You are the gate, lift up your head so that God may enter. We are the visible Body of Christ to the world; it's through us that His glory makes entrance into this world.
Now, at the city gates, wisdom speaks and beckons you to hear her words so that you may be prosperous and safe. For your good, and at the entrance of the city gates no less.

She cries aloud in the street; she is on the street where you walk, where you live, the path on which you travel daily.
Where you carry out errands, work, shop, she is shouting, here at the markets.
At the head of the noisy streets she cries out; wherever we are, she is at the center of it, trying to be noticed, crying out for your attention, but it's a loud street.
She is trying to speak to every thought that comes into your head by being stationed at the entrance of the city gates, the head of the street, the markets . . .
In everything, Wisdom is trying to make herself known to you.

Here we have two virtues, wisdom and faithfulness, being presented as embodied and living, and with intent.
Two qualities of God that are either offering friendship or else screaming at you to just give mind to her words.
And yet, the streets stay busy and loud, the gates are still being told to lift up their heads, we are still being told to befriend faithfulness, as though these were not commonplace and already accepted among all. On the contrary, Wisdom would not have to raise her voice nor cry out. If we gave due mind, she could whisper and we would listen.
But our streets are yet still noisy.

An Ironic Turn Of Events . . .

If you want to learn something new, you must step into new territory. If you open your Bible, don't go to the familiar passages of faithfulness or hope or patience or love or whatever it is that you need to read about, because those principles are the foundation of God's Word. There is not a piece of paper between Genesis 1 and Revelation 22 that is void of these things.
So i encourage you to open to a random page, and start to read something new.
Take it for what it is, and take it for what you are.

Moments ago, i posted that on Facebook. I just tried it myself. I have come to the conclusion that God is a very humorous Being (mostly with ironic humor, it seems), and this is no exception.
1 Chronicles 5:23-6:32. Are you kidding me? This? Lineage. Ancestral record keeping. The descendants of the half-tribe of M'nasheh (Manasseh), the heads of their families, their exile, and then the list begins.
Nearly a page and a half of "The sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. The sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel. The children of Amram . . ." and so on.
So i'm sitting here trying to figure out the hope, faithfulness, love, etc., that is here on these two pages.
It hits me. Lineage is legacy. What more evidence of faithfulness can be asked than to bear witness to the lineage of Levi, the tribe "set apart" by God?
Granted, i'm having a hard time reading the entirety of these two pages (it's dizzying, to be honest), it's truly a beautiful thing to see this heritage, this promise fulfilled, this grace bestowed upon an entire tribe from their ancestry.

God visits the iniquity of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate Him (Deuteronomy 5:9). This is evident in the "half-tribe of M'naseh."

That may seem bleak, but there's a wonderful, beauteous flipside to it; the following verse says that He shows steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love Him and keep His commandments. The tribe of Levi comes to mind. How wonderful it is that the descendants of Levi are named and numbered.
What's even more wonderful about this is that when we're simply flesh-and-blood, we are bound to the ancestral curses (call it what you will, as many who do not take the Bible to be literal would prefer a different terminology to give credence here, but i see it as wholly literal and, therefore, will call it an ancestral curse). If your great-grandfather hated God, chances are, God will visit that iniquity upon you, because He does not fail in keeping His Word. However, when you give up your flesh-and-blood nature and become a new being in the Spirit, through Christ, you are no longer bound by this, because God becomes your Father--and He keeps His commandments. He will bless to the thousandth generation because you are His child, not a child of this earth.

See in this; "Your origin and your birth are of the land of the Canaanites; your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite. And as for your birth, on the day you were born your cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water to cleanse you, nor rubbed with salt, nor wrapped in swaddling cloths. No eye pitied you, to do any of these things to you out of compassion for you, but you were cast out on the open field, for you were abhorred, on the day that you were born.
"And when I passed by you and saw you wallowing in your blood, I said to you in your blood, ‘Live!’ I said to you in your blood, ‘Live!’" (Ezekiel 16)
You have no place in this world anymore, and only God is your Father. He makes a covenant, He makes beautiful, He restores that which is no longer of this world. In this chapter, the girl found is Jerusalem, and she turns away, but God remembers His covenant.

And look at this; "Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ Hear now, O house of Israel: Is my way not just? Is it not your ways that are not just? When a righteous person turns away from his righteousness and does injustice, he shall die for it; for the injustice that he has done he shall die. Again, when a wicked person turns away from the wickedness he has committed and does what is just and right, he shall save his life." (Ezekiel 18:25-27)
“Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways, declares the Lord God. Repent and turn from all your transgressions, lest iniquity be your ruin. Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed, and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! Why will you die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord God; so turn, and live.” (v. 30-32)

The patrimonial curse is nullified when God becomes your Father, and you receive Him as such. It turns, instead, into ancestral blessing.
Your lineage is not one that can be simply bound in a book because it exceeds time itself. Your ancestry is Divine and Eternal.
Just imagine, opening a book and seeing five words: "The children of God: You."
Now i'm fully convinced that there is hope, life, faithfulness, and love emanating from each and every half-opaque page between the flyleaves of a Bible, even if it's but a list of names.