A fruitful Christian life does not come from working ever harder in the power of the flesh, rather It comes from being in ever more intimate union with Jesus Christ. We are so often tempted by the idea of “redoubling our efforts” when we fall flat on our faces spiritually, but that is the last thing that will put us back on our feet. The “old man” depended exclusively on the flesh and, unknowingly, on common grace to achieve the things the world calls valuable. Once we are redeemed and given the Holy Spirit we experience something new, the power of God producing good things in our lives. We activate and increase that power by purposefully seeking to be with Christ and beginning to surrender all that we are to Him. This is a progressive process that we hasten or slow down by how much time we give to seeking Jesus and how sincere and focused is that seeking.

The Scripture tells us that He is the vine and we the branches. Natural branches cannot be fruitful apart from the greater vine which not only sustains them but causes them to produce the kind of good fruit that is pleasing to the reaper at harvest time. A branch has no power, in and of itself, to make this kind of fruit and neither do we have any power to bring forth spiritual fruit apart from a real and vital union with our Savior.

A sort of sanctified workaholism is rife in the church today. While there is nothing wrong with spending our lives in service to our King, there is something wrong with doing it by relying on self-effort. We may appear to be doing great spiritual tasks, but if it is in the power of the self such works are counterfeit. They may seem impressive but they are not truly of God. While it is true that the believer must cooperate with God in doing His work it is largely a passive cooperation in the sense that God is the one providing the motive power. Too many of us have “burnt-out” spiritually because we have invoked God’s blessing over work that we have done only by the sweat of our own spiritual brow. Some Christians are exhausted because they are wearing a yoke of their own design rather than the perfect yoke of Christ; a yoke that, by the way, is blessedly light and easy.

Being must precede doing. We need to spend time with our Lord first and foremost, and then He will direct us to the works He wants us to perform in His strength. It is vital that believers give the highest priority to staying as close to Jesus as Mary once did (much to Martha’s chagrin) or as John did the night of the last supper. Neither of these persons were busy “doing ministry” at those moments. They were simply near Him, and focused upon Him. When you gaze into the eyes of Jesus, when you come into intimate union with Him through the Holy Spirit, the rest flows naturally. Spend enough time with the Lover of your soul and you will not only intensely desire to do His work but you will find that the time spent with Him filled you with the divine power to accomplish it.