Where Are You Rooted?

What is the logic behind people that plan ahead by purchasing a health insurance policy when they aren't exhibiting illness or disease? Or why do people purchase car insurance, or life insurance, or home-owners insurance? I think the answers are obvious.
We prepare for so many things we consider necessary, yet, we hesitate and some even reject the idea when it comes to the protection of our souls! Why? Jesus Himself IS our insurance policy to eternal life in heaven. What an offer! Why then would some Christians disobey His Word, disagree with His commands or neglect their salvation? Is it because they intend to sell their soul for just a little more fun? Is the answer because 'no one is going to tell me what to do'? Is it because in reality they only call on Jesus when they want or need something? Mark 8:36-37 says, "What shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" Why are so many people unconcerned about the protection of their soul?

The attraction of sin is very strong. It has destroyed non-believers and some professing believers for generations long before you were ever born. You may enjoy sin for a while, but soon you will discover the effects and you'll be left empty with guilt in your right hand, shame in your left, and damnation at your feet. There will be a day you will have to face God without Jesus as your insurance policy. We all know what happens here if we have no health, life, car or home insurance. YOU'LL PAY THE PRICE. Or another way of saying it, you'll pay the consequences for your decisions. The same is true in a spiritual sense. The Bible says, "The wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23). Notice the word "wages?" That's payment. You will pay for your sin with spiritual death if you do not stop sinning! That death is eternal separation from God in the abyss -- Hell, Hades, Gehenna, Bottomless Pit, Lake of Fire --whatever you want to call it. The only way to assure you will not have to pay the wages you owe is through Jesus Christ and that, by accepting His Blood sacrifice for you on the cross. He alone is your insurance policy for your soul from the moment you "take it out" to the moment you die. It's lifetime coverage as long as you remain on the policy! There are no monthly installments or fees. The coverage is absolutely free.


With health insurance, car insurance, life insurance, and home-owners insurance you have to commit to paying your premiums every month. You may receive a few pardons for being late a few times, but you still have to commit to making your payments or you will lose coverage. Although Jesus' policy will never cost you money, and He will pardon you from time to time, there is a required commitment ... A commitment to read, to learn, to grow, and to mature in Him. Let me see if I can make this more clear. When we come to Jesus for salvation, for our insurance policy into heaven, we repent of our sins and make a commitment to follow Him. The only way to follow Him is to know what He wants of us. To know that, we have to read His Word for the instructions. When we begin to read, we begin to learn. As we learn, we begin to know more. As we know more we begin to appreciate and love Him more. When we love more, something begins to happen ...we begin to change inside; we mature in a spiritual sense! That is the Holy Spirit working in us. Then when mature, we begin to bear fruit. The one thing The Lord wants from us is to bear fruit. What fruit? The Bible tells us ..the fruit of the Spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, etc. (Galatians 5:22-23). Why does God want that of us and why must we do it? Because it shows our commitment to Him. If you love Him, you seek Him. If you seek Him, you will grow and mature in His knowledge and then the fruit will become apparent! You begin to bear His characteristics. That's what it means. You become a "new creature," a "new-man," you're born again. What happens if we don't bear fruit? Besides proving you are lazy and not committed you are considered an unfruitful branch. Jesus is the Vine, we are the branches (John 15:5 KJV). If we abide in Him (remain in the Vine) WE WILL BEAR FRUIT! "Every branch that does not bear fruit is taken away" **removed! (John 15:2 KJV).

A good illustration is the thunderstorm storm that produced a squall and moved through my neighborhood last summer. Some called it a microburst. Many trees were uprooted and others, though still rooted, had broken limbs. When a tree has broken limbs, those limbs become separated from the life-giving properties of the tree. What is done with the broken branches? Generally, they are cut down and taken away because once the connection to the tree has been broken, they wither and die. No leaves will ever bloom from that branch again. It is the same for a fruit tree. If you had 1 apple tree that you bought specifically so you could have fruit but it never produced one apple, or if you had 100 apple trees in a grove and 2 failed to bring forth fruit, chances are you would cut them down and carry them away because they bore no fruit. "Bearing fruit" in the Biblical sense is a phrase used to describe the outward actions that result from the inward condition of a person's heart. If you read Galatians 5: 16-24 you will see the contrasts works (fruits) of the flesh compared with those of the Holy Spirit. In our sinful nature, we bear fruits such as adultery, idolatry, jealousy, fornication, anger, sinful vices, etc. BUT the fruits we bear of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, etc. As Christians, we want to bear fruit in keeping with our relationship with God. We seek to do things outwardly that demonstrate that we have been made new in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17). If you continue to purposely sin after receiving Christ and are entangled in fornication, adultery, perversions, homosexuality, jealousies, rage, lying and so forth, those fruits are a witness that you are still living in your sinful nature. These are not "fruits" of a person rooted in Christ. What comes from your heart are the things that tell God who you are. Are you purposely staying in some sin? Do you justify your fornication because you "love him" or you "love her" so somehow God will overlook your sexual sin? Do you practice homosexuality and justify it because you believe you were "born that way?" Are you considering killing a baby in your womb through an abortion because of your own indiscretion, using the excuse "but God wouldn't have me ruin my life with an unwanted child." What are you reasoning within yourself and telling God? What do your fruits expose?

Being firmly rooted in Christ will furnish your soul those same things we seek through a variety of insurances: guaranteed protection but without a price! Bearing fruit in the Christian life requires abiding in The Vine! When we are connected and intentional about our relationship with God, we produce the fruit The Holy Spirit cultivates within us. He does the work! Our fruit-bearing is simply a result of what He does because of the intents of the hearts. Jesus said, "You did not choose me, I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide..." (John 15:16) because He wants us to bear His image on earth. He wants us to be transformed into His image (2 Corinthians 3:18). As the Holy Spirit works in us He sanctifies us, but He cannot work if we continue to purposely remain in certain sins! As we yield to Him, He sanctifies us and it is then we become more and more like Christ in actions, thoughts, intentions, and deeds. It's a process, a process of growing. Understand, it's not about doing good works or attempting righteousness in our own strength. Rather, it is about intentionally growing in our walk with Christ, inviting the Holy Spirit's work of transformation in us, and actively obeying God in all He calls us to do! As we seek Him and lay down our own fleshly desires for His better ways, we will bear lasting fruit and serve as healing and light to a world in need of that one insurance policy; Jesus! When we plant our seeds in others, more fruit will abound across the world. (Matthew 5:13-16). Until next time ...
-Pat-