It would seem that there is no shortage of sincere ‘believers’ today who can become easily distracted with trying to ‘help God out’ when it comes to building His kingdom. (Matt. 7:22; 1 Cor. 13:1-3). It’s an easy path to find yourself on with no shortage of company. (Matt. 7:13-14). Most everyone claims their heart’s intent is to ‘glorify God’...and yet, we seem to forget what Jesus taught truly glorifies the Father- Fruit does, and much of it – 

“By this...My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.” (John 15:8). And guess what? If we are not truly abiding in Him...there ain’t gonna be no fruit produced. (4-5) I hate to bring this up again, but we cannot hear it enough: IF...we are truly abiding in Him, we will be ‘walking as He walked’ and we will not continue to sin’. (1 John 2:6; 3:6-9; 5:18)

Have I mentioned lately how important fruit is? (Matt. 3:10; 7:17-20). I realize that we often like to seek out ‘shortcuts’ and ‘easier ways’ to get thing done when it comes to a variety of goals; and yes, science and modern technology has made that possible on multiple levels. But when it comes to producing the kind of ‘fruit’ that God is seeking out... there remains only one true proven method- something has to ‘die’ first.(John 12:24; 3:30)

So if a person is truly serious about seeking the kingdom of God and inheriting eternal life, they need to know, up front and with full disclosure...there is a ‘cost’ involved. (Luke 14:25-33). It will cost you...your life , and a personal ‘cross’ will be involved as well. (Luke 9:23) As I said the other day, ‘grace may be free, but it ain’t cheap!’.

Perhaps someone is reading this today...who ‘crashed and burned’ some time back in their ‘faith journey’. Maybe you... started out ‘accepting Christ’ and/or ‘joining a church’ and were told up front how much God loved you and wanted to bless you and use you and your talents, etc. They just forgot to tell you up front about this being willing to ‘lay down your life, and die’-part, first. How unfortunate that you failed to ‘get that memo’, because it really is an important part of this faith journey as one begins to follow Jesus. And make no mistake about it...it really is not everyone’s ‘cup of tea’. (John 3:19-20; 6:66; Matt. 7:13-14). We are told early on that the very ones Jesus first came for...’received Him not’. (John 1:11) But...”to those who did receive Him...to them ...He gave the right, (the power or capacity)...to BECOME...children of God”.

This would be a good place to remind us all that there is just a tad bit more to this ‘becoming a child of God-thing’...than just ‘praying a prayer to accept Christ’. One must ‘repent’ (which means to turn) and then ‘follow Jesus’. Because ‘those who are led by His Spirit...are the children of God’. (Rom. 8:14). And while we are all familiar with John 3:16, we are told in Heb. 5:9 that Christ became the source of eternal salvation to all those who... “obey Him”. And guess what is the first thing on His agenda when we do ‘come to Him that we might have life’ (John 5:39-40)? He’s going to lead us into the wilderness...to ‘die’. (Rom. 8:13)

So if we are reluctant to truly repent, or to ‘turn’, and we opt to continue to live the way we have always lived, according to the flesh...then the end result for us is pretty grim: we will die; Or, as Jesus put it: we will ‘all likewise...perish’. (Luke 13:3,5; Matt. 7:23)