Labor of Love 3

Ok, so there’s fruit on the vine; it’s Christ’s life your living. Praise God!  However, if you know anything about DADDY God, He’s the God of abundance.  He doesn’t do meager or just enough, He does everything BIG (see Ephesians 3:20).  So it makes sense that even when He sees fruit in us, He wants to see even more.  He wants to fill us with the fullness of Jesus (Ephesians 3:19)!

How does He set us up for even more success?  Well if you look at that word prunes and you think of garden shears, then let’s clarify that.  In the Greek, the original language of the New Testament, that word kathairo literally means to cleanse of filth or impurity.  It’s washing more than cutting and reminds me of Ephesians 5:26, where the Apostle Paul talks about Christ washing the church with the water of the word.  Jesus Himself says in the 3^rd verse that He made the disciples He was talking to clean by the words He already spoke to them.

Now that we know this is about washing instead of wounding, what do we need washing of.  Well, when you think practically, why do we wash ourselves?  Why do we wash fruit before we eat it?  To get rid of dirt.  Dirt clogs, dirt inhibits growth processes.

This dirt is anything that soils, whether dust or dung.  Any plant outside gets exposed to both and so do believers.  The dust of guilt and condemnation when we fail, and the poop of judgment and shame that we speak over each other.  That dirt hinders us from displaying Christ’s glory, and DADDY God wants His Son’s glory on full display.  He provides His Word in the Bible, not to beat us up, but to cleanse us of all the dirty lies.  The lies that cause us to believe wrong about DADDY God’s heart towards us and about ourselves, so we’re free to bloom.  He also provides pastors and preaches to speak those cleansing words over us.

But just like you don’t wait till Sundays to take baths (at least I hope :-), don’t wait till Sunday to get washed with the Word.  Dive into the word daily, letting the love, grace, and truth about Jesus soak you — and watch what DADDY God does in you!