It’s your first day on the job, a job that really came out of nowhere for you, but in many ways was an ‘answer to prayer’... and has the potential to be life changing for you. Call it a ‘once in a lifetime opportunity’ if you will...but there you are and the trajectory of your life and career are on the threshold of something really good and promising.

You were told to report to your supervisor in his office first thing upon arrival in the morning, and as you enter his office, you are greeted warmly and welcomed to the ‘company’. There is the usual ‘HR’ details to be covered, insurance paperwork to be signed and filed, and then you watch as he goes to a cabinet and pulls out a brand new, most up-to-date ‘smart’ phone, a new laptop computer and case, and then sets them on the desk in front of you along with a company credit card and keys to a new company car.

A tad puzzled, you look up at the smiling supervisor who is motioning for you to gather up and take what apparently is now ...yours to make use of for the new job. Apparently, you were not informed earlier about what the company was providing for you on Day One, but it was their way of saying: We want you to succeed and flourish with us and we are providing for you everything you will need to do just this...flourish and succeed. Why with a wink and a grin, you are encouraged to take the rest of the day off to go do some shopping for a new wardrobe (on their dime – expense account with the CC) and to get acquainted with the new ‘toys’, i.e. laptop, phone, and car.

I don’t know about you, but I would be dumbfounded and at a loss of words, especially if this all came out of nowhere. Imagine walking out with this grin on your face, but a humble heart filled with gratitude as you realize how blessed you’ve been to have been given this new opportunity. You might even whisper to yourself...”Bro/Sis...don’t mess this one up!”

May I jump to where I am going with that scenario of an analogy today? Welcome to the kingdom of God as you begin this new walk of faith with Jesus.

No, this is not about acquiring material goods and pleasures so you can go ‘show off’ to all your friends hoping to impress them. This has to do with any and all believers making use of what God has freely provided for all who call upon His name...to be ‘more than a conqueror’, fruitful in every area of your life so that you may go out and ‘do the will of God’ as you begin to reap the eternal ‘benefits’ that come with surrendering your life to Jesus.

Take a look at 2 Peter 1:3-4 where he writes: “His divine power has given to us ALL things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”

When Jesus told us (commanded us, actually) that we were to go and ‘love others as He loved us’, and that this is how we would be known to the world that we were His followers (John 15:12; 13:34-35)...He did not expect us to go out and do this on our own by trying really hard to be a ‘good Christian’. He knew full well, up front...that this would be impossible to do unless He made available everything we would need; you know...like the new phone and laptop and car with expense account’?

How else could one actually go out and ‘sin no more’ (John 5:14; 8:11), ‘be perfect as your father in heaven is perfect’ (Matt. 5:48) and actually ‘walk just as Jesus walked’ (1 John 2:6) unless you were properly ‘equipped’ to do this? And let’s be honest here...how many of us have wasted years being ‘faithful and dutiful’ to ‘church’ and yet have fallen way short in actually ‘doing the will of God’? Just maybe we forgot those initial meetings with our ‘new supervisor’ who was ready to make all this a reality?

Did Jesus not tell us...to ‘abide in Him’ because ‘apart from Him we could do nothing’? (John 15:1-8), especially when it came to bearing the ‘much fruit’ that would be required to show we are His disciples?

Were we not promised the coming of the ‘Helper’, the ‘Spirit of Truth’ who would lead and guide us, and ‘teach us all things’ (John 14:16-18; 16:12-13), not to mention ‘endue us with power from on high...after this Holy Spirit came upon us’ so that we too...could go out and ‘do the works of God’? (Acts 1:8; John 14:12-14).

And for all this talk about being ‘saved by grace alone’, as if it were some protective covering that allowed you to continue sinning as if you had no control and was like a ‘get out of jail for free pass’, maybe we should look what Titus had to say about this ‘grace’:

“For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.” (2:11-14)

Again, to requote what Peter said...”we’ve been given EVERYTHING we need...by His divine power”. No wonder Jesus made it known: “If I had not come and spoken to them, they would have no sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin.” (John 15:22)

Did you catch that? We no longer have an ‘excuse’...all this talk about being a ‘flawed human’ who will always sin on this side of heaven? “IF...any man is in Christ, He is a new creation...the old has passed away and behold all things have become new” (2 Cor. 5:17)

Just remember this...God does not ‘equip’ us with His divine nature and power, through His Holy Spirit...just to make us ‘feel good’ where we can run around in circles showing off claiming to ‘have it’. He expects us to go out and to ‘do His will’. Imagine if all that person did with that new job and all the benefits that came with it...if he spent all day racing that new car up and down the highway, or when not doing that...scrolling on his phone watching TikTok videos while listening to music on the laptop. That would be a bit misguided, which if you want to get serious...sounds like what happened to some folks in Matt. 7:22 and 1 Cor. 13:1-3.

So, is His word truly ‘abiding in you’ where you are seeing fruitful results, as mentioned in John 15:7-8? And...”have you received this Holy Spirit since you believed?” (Acts 19:2)

If not...maybe it’s time to go have a visit with...Jesus. What are you waiting for?