WHAT DOES YOUR LIFE PRODUCE?

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

In Christ, Mark

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn

** Become a Follower of The Christian Walk at http://the-christian-walk.blogspot.com

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Land that drinks in the rain often falling on it and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is farmed receives the blessing of God. But land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless and is in danger of being cursed. In the end it will be burned.

Even though we speak like this, dear friends, we are convinced of better things in your case—the things that have to do with salvation.

Hebrews 6:7-9

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

I had the privilege to serve and lead at one of the highest levels possible as a senior enlisted service member in the United States Navy. Charged with developing the leaders of the future, I would always have a conversation with those under my charge centered on one question:

“When your assignment here is finished, what will be your legacy?”

The question was grounded in the truth that we all have opportunities every day to leave a mark as we carry out what the Lord has called us to do. In my experience, the mark a Sailor could make fell into one of three categories:

First, they could be remembered for all the good things they did, all the hard work they put in and the associated accomplishments which made them and their command successful. These Sailors would leave their assigned place better by what they did there.

The second is the opposite of the first because the Sailor would be remembered for all the wrongs they committed, never carrying out what they were supposed to do in the way they were supposed to do it and constantly committing misconducts that made them the focus of attention for all the wrong reasons. These Sailors brought discredit and dishonor on themselves and their command...and would be remembered as such.

And then we come to the third category of Sailor, the one who came and served but didn’t do anything spectacular, either good or bad. They did the bare minimum and when their assignment ended, neither they nor the command were any better. We could call this indifferent service and frankly, it’s nearly as bad a legacy as the Sailor who committed offenses because the indifference showed a complete disregard for reaching higher potential by improving on the gifts the Lord had given, much like the third servant in Jesus’ parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30).

I am going through all this to use it as an illustration to apply towards our scripture passage today from the sixth chapter of Hebrews. Here’s what the author writes to his audience, the Jewish Christians:

Land that drinks in the rain often falling on it and that produces a crop useful to those for whom it is farmed receives the blessing of God. But land that produces thorns and thistles is worthless and is in danger of being cursed. In the end it will be burned.

Even though we speak like this, dear friends, we are convinced of better things in your case—the things that have to do with salvation. Vv. 7-9

Here we find the writer using an agricultural example to make a spiritual truth, specifically in regard to the end result or legacy of a believer’s work for the cause of the Gospel.

Land that was fertile and produced a useful crop would do so because it put to use the gift of God, in this case the rain, and thus received the blessing of God for producing as He intended. This would be similar to the Sailor who would work hard using their God-given talents to produce improvement and success from their labors.

From a spiritual perspective, the believer who faithfully submitted to the will and way of the Lord, obedient to His call to make disciples of all nations, would drink in the living water from the Lord and use it to water others so that the Lord could produce a great harvest of new believers saved by His holy name. This Christian believer would receive the blessing of God.

Conversely, land that produced worthless thorns and thistles would be destroyed in the end because it held no value in the eyes of the Lord. The land had the same potential as the one that flourished but because it didn’t drink in God’s gift of rain, it yielded nothing positive or noteworthy, nothing to be remembered for much like the Sailor who was always in trouble or the one who didn’t do anything good or bad.  

Translating this to the life of a Christian, this would be someone who believed in Jesus, received the salvation gift He offered, and then did nothing else in life to serve or support Him and His calling. Satisfied through a true sense of self centeredness, they held no concern over anyone else’s spiritual future and accordingly, their life produced nothing but useless “thorns and thistles”.

All this leads to a simple question that I believe the scriptures are asking us today:

When you look at your life as a Christian, what does it produce?

The answer will come from the legacy you have left and are still to leave.

If you’ve embraced the gifts the Lord has given you and dedicated yourself to put those gifts to use as He expects, then you will reap a great harvest in your life and do so in His name. This is a life He will bless.

On the other hand, if you put no effort into pursuing the Lord’s purpose for your life, disregarding or ignoring the gifts He has given to accomplish His will, then you will reap what you sow which is nothing. Again, like the third servant in the parable of the talents, you will give back to the Lord (your Master) what He has entrusted to you with no return on His investment...and you know this got the servant cast out into punishment, the reward for his apathy.

I don’t know how you answered the question at hand for yourself but I do know that if you haven’t been producing for the Lord as He called you to do, you can change that right now. Today can be the day for you to change your approach to living and make it Christ, not self centered, putting yourself in a position to receive God’s blessing instead of His curse.

When it’s all said and done with, make sure your Christian legacy is such that all will remember you served the Lord with passion with a focus on the salvation and good of others.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.