John 15:4-5 – Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

THEME OF THE DAY: THE ABIDING LIFE FIRST, NOT THE DOING LIFE FIRST. It is an ever-present danger in the Christian life. It must be kept in the foremost of our thinking. Let it drift into our unconsciousness and the Christian life lacks Biblical definition and reality, our testimony clouded and powerless, and the joy of the Lord sprouts wings and departs our hearts. And what is this danger? The ease of forgetting the Christian life is about abiding in Christ instead of doing Christian things and doing so without a conscious awareness of Christ’s living presence with us and in us. Let’s explore this danger.

Each of us are confronted with full and busy lives from the moment we rise in the morning until we fall exhausted into our beds at night. Busyness is unavoidable in our vocations and family responsibilities along with being self-imposed by decisions we make. I believe one of the most effective works of the devil in Christ’s church and His people is the masterful way he has gotten us to fill our lives with busyness and a busyness both of worldliness and “church” stuff. This busyness is about doing not abiding. It causes us to miss what the Christian life is really all about; abiding in Christ and walking with Him on a daily, moment-by-moment manner. If not guarded against, busyness will produce a Christian life, which is not the Christian life, of merely doing Christian things. Always remember, the Christian life is about being and abiding in Christ, not doing Christian things and occasionally thinking about Christ. Let’s look at both sides of busyness in our lives to help us discern the danger in both.

First, there is the busyness of worldliness. Way too many Christians are filling their lives and their family lives with so much good, but worldly activities. Their schedules are so full, no time to serve Christ’s church, be in His Word and pray as families and with other believers exists. There is even the competition from the world to compromise the sacredness of the Lord’s Day and faithfulness to keep it the Lord’s Day. What happens is the subtle drifting into a Christian existence measured by doing instead of being. What happens is our spiritual responsibilities and privileges become just other things to schedule and balance with worldly activities. Even church becomes a “doing activity” to be scheduled. Beloved, faithfulness to the things of the Lord, like praying, like serving, and like faithful attendance to church are not things to be scheduled, but priority commitments not negotiable. We don’t decide to go to church each week. We don’t’ decide to serve Christ’s church. Those decisions were made when we were saved and called to faithfulness in attendance to church and in using our God-given spiritual giftedness. Beware of placing Christian responsibilities on equal footing as worldly activities, and never let the latter override the former.

Next, is the other extreme and that of busyness in “church” stuff. We cannot be running around crazy busy doing a ton of church things at the expense of our family relationships and more importantly, our personal walk with the Lord Jesus. Service for the Lord never trumps relationship with the Lord. Use me as an example, but it applies in all our roles. I cannot come to my Bible, even prayer, just to make sermons. I must first come to my Bible and prayer, as a Christian, not a pastor. If I just look at my walk with the Lord as service first, I will dry up and the service will fail and be fruitless. The same in our roles as husbands, wives, dads, moms, grandpas, grandmas, and children under our care. To succeed in all of those in a Christ-honoring and Christ-influencing way is not about the “doing” of those roles, but becoming like Christ in those roles. That only comes by abiding in Him, not serving Him. Get the abiding life right and the doing life will follow. May God help us not to be duped by the devil and fall prey to a life of busyness, either in the world or church, that redefines our Christian walk away from the Biblical definition – the abiding and abundant life in the Lord Jesus.

PRAYER: “Lord, help me not to reduce my Christian experience to primarily what I do instead of what I am.”

QUOTE: “Don’t fall prey to just doing Christian things and neglect closeness to Christ who is Christianity.”