Above all else

Fruitfulness is God's desire. John 15:1-8 describes how the Father cuts off every branch that bears no fruit, and for those branches which do bear fruit, he prunes them, so that they become even more fruitful. Verse 8 explains that "This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.". So what fruit are we talking about? Well, Galatians 5:22-23 says "the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control." What else? Certainly in some cases, it is tangible, such as when he blessed Abraham with great material success (Gen 13:2). And it can also mean fruitfulness in family, in which I would include spiritual families (Gen 17:5b). In this regard, I was struck this morning when we were praying for Singapore and the nations, that while we make this prayer, somebody must also be doing the actual work on the ground. Both prayer and action are important. And whi...

I recently read this in Os Hillman's book. As Christians, we need to move away from the "my business, my way" mindset. Clearly, doing our own thing our own way is not satisfactory. So some of us succeed in getting to "my business, God's way". This means we go about our lives at home and at work, while successfully maintaining God's principles in the way we do these things. Make no mistake about it, it is not easy to do "my business, God's way". But even this is not enough. We need to get to " God's business, God's way". This means surrendering our family and our work, our time and our energy, wholly unto Jesus. So that it is not just addressing our agenda his way, but addressing His agenda, His way. John F Kennedy famously said "And so, my fellow Americans, ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country." For Christians, we similarly need to move away from the idea of God as th...

Really one of my favourite songs, ever since Kermit sang it on the Muppet Show, on a lazy Saturday morning in the sepia tinged days of childhood. This version is sung by one of my favourite singers too. Tell me you don't tear up when you listen to it while thinking of a loved one.