The source of our fruitfulness isn’t our effort …

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Have you heard the buzz feed about personal productivity? It goes like this:

In the next 30 seconds you will, on average:

  • Take 8 breaths.
  • Produce .3 grams of carbon dioxide.
  • Your heart will beat 36 times.
  • Produce 72 million red blood cells.
  • Your blood will travel 4 miles.

    • You accomplish more by just standing where you are than in all of your other endeavors!

    It sounds fascinating until you realize there’s something misleading about this picture of productivity — YOU are not accomplishing most of these feats, your body is.

    The most “average” of persons can accomplish some fascinating things in life, but to be truly productive in a way that matters most — to be spiritually fruitful — requires that Jesus Christ alone be our Source:

    “I am the true grapevine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more. You have already been pruned and purified by the message I have given you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and …” John 15:1-4a.

    “… you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me.” – John 15:4b.

    For our lives to be genuinely fruitful, we must be connected to Jesus Christ as our Source from which we do anything. Dave Rigg tells a story that illustrates that our fruitfulness relies on a close connection to our source …

      A young man named Roscoe was arrested for DUI in rural Kentucky. He pled guilty and the judge sentenced him to community service. When Roscoe showed up at the jail to begin his sentence, the sheriff informed him that he would be painting a yellow line down the middle of a newly constructed road.

      The sheriff purchased several gallons of yellow paint and a dozen paint rollers and Roscoe began his task. The first day, Roscoe painted the line 2 miles down the road and the sheriff was impressed. On the second day, Roscoe painted the line one mile further. The sheriff was still satisfied, but less impressed. On the third day, Roscoe only covered 1/4 of a mile.

      Now the sheriff was upset, so he decided to talk to Roscoe.

      “You haven’t been painting as much road as you did on the first day.” The sheriff asked, “What’s the problem?”

      Roscoe replied, “I’d be painting more, but the bucket keeps getting farther and farther away!”

    The further we are from Christ, the less fruitful our lives will be.

    Jesus tells us, “Remain in me …” because He WANTS to enable us to have fruitful lives. Are you obeying Him?

    Scotty