Christian Homekeeping: Much Activity but Little Fruit

I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. John 15:5

It's possible for us to labor in the Lord (1 Cor. 15:58). It's also possible for us to labor in the flesh. We can become so wrapped up and entangled in all of our activities that we run to and fro in the energy of the flesh. We seemingly are accomplishing much, but in the eyes of God we are accomplishing nothing.

We can get so wrapped up in "serving the Lord" that we forget the Lord we are serving (Luke 10:38-42). We need to STOP and BE STILL before our God (Ps. 46:10), remembering the sobering words of our Saviour: "without Me ye can do NOTHING" (John 15:5). Out of resting and abiding in the Lord flows service for the Lord.

It is impossible to please the Lord in the flesh (Rom. 8:8), and it is a shame for the believer to walk in the flesh because "ye are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you" (Rom. 8:9). Except the Lord build the house (Ps. 127:1), all of our labor is vanity. We need to be careful that we count fruit as God does. A fruitful day to us may be quite unfruitful as God sees it. There's coming a day when we will discover how God counts fruit: "every man's work shall be made manifest; for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire" (1 Cor. 3:13).

Do we include God in all our activities or do we leave Him out? Is He in all our thoughts? Do we include Him in our plans (cf. James 4:13-17)? How great is the sin of independence manifested by the attitude of heart that says, "Who needs God?" (Ps. 2:3)! HOW great is the man who has learned to be dependent and who fears doing anything if the Lord is not in it!

God has told us what He desires and demands with respect to our relationship with Himself: "for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you" (1 Th. 5:16-18).

Let's test ourselves:

Is my daily walk characterized by an attitude of constant rejoicing regardless of circumstances (verse 16)?

Do I enjoy a God-consciousness and a God-awareness and a God-dependence throughout the day (verse 17)?

Do I manifest a thankful spirit regardless of what state I am in (verse 18)?

As we honor and acknowledge Christ in all our ways (Prov. 3:5-6; Col. 1:18), we can have the joy and confidence that comes from knowing that our labor is not in vain in the Lord! May we be sitting in His presence (Luke 10:39), standing upon His Word (1 Cor. 16:13), walking in His holiness (1 Pet. 1:14-16) and running in His service (1 Cor. 15:58), all for His glory, now and forevermore, AMEN!

Taken from Middletown Church with permission

Quotes to Ponder

If you’re a friend to all and an enemy to none, then you’re leading no one. - Unknown

The objective in Christian homeschooling is not to teach children how to "deal with the real world." I do not want to teach my children how to merely survive this life. As believers in Christ, we are called to be overcomers! - HE magazine

The modest virgin, the prudent wife, and the careful matron, are much more serviceable in life than petticoated philosophers, blustering heroines, or virago queens. She who makes her husband and her children happy, who reclaims the one from vice and trains up the other to virtue, is a much greater character than ladies described in romances, whose whole occupation is to murder mankind with shafts from their quiver, or their eyes. - Oliver Goldsmith

Long ago I ceased to count heads. Truth is usually in the minority in this evil world. - Charles Spurgeon

In a time of universal deceit, telling the TRUTH, is a revolutionary act . -George Orwell

You have enemies? Good. That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life. -Winston Churchill

It is not the critic who counts: not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles or where the doer of deeds could have done better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly, who errs and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error or shortcoming, but who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, who spends himself for a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows, in the end, the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who knew neither victory nor defeat. ~ Theodore Roosevelt

Christian mothers too often neglect their home-centered role for the empty promises of fulfillment in the workplace, while they warehouse their children in daycare centers. Parents send their children to secular schools where God is outlawed, and they allow them to watch trashy movies and listen to vile music—and hang out with those who do the same. After years of training in the ways of rebellion through godless schooling, debauched entertainment, and peer association, Christian parents are somehow surprised when their teenagers rebel, forsaking the God of their fathers.- Philip Lancaster

You are as much serving God in looking after your own children, and training them up in God's fear, and minding the house, and making your household a church for God, as you would be if you had been called to lead an army to battle for the Lord of hosts. - Charles Spurgeon

“Why do women want to dress like men when they’re fortunate enough to be women? Why lose femininty, which is one of our greatest charms? We get more accomplished by being charming than we would be flaunting around in pants and smoking. I’m very fond of men. I think they are wonderful creatures. I love them dearly. But I don’t want to look like one. When women gave up their long skirts, they made a grave error….”-Tasha Tudor

SECULARISM is a philosophy that claims that there is no God-or that if there is a God, He is irrelevant. HUMANISM essentially says that in the absence of God, humans can and should act as gods by judging, choosing, and defining what is right for themselves. The philosophy pervading the public education system combines these two philosophies into one.-Ken Ham

The true defining situation for a person is what they do when they are alone and don't have to do anything else. What do they do? Do they do frivolous things? That's when you define what you are. -Kevin Rollins, former CEO of DELL

How can there be too many children? That’s like saying there are too many flowers. -Mother Teresa

Fifty-nine modern nations are plagued by the high-tech benefits of birth-control pills. Each of them have waged a cultural war against babies. Each of them suffer below-replacement birthrates. Each of them face potential extinction. But concerns such as national suffering, dangerous international geopolitics and the disappearance of entire nations are matters that would require mature thinking – something that was successfully bred-out of the American people when they accepted the pill as, in the words of Hugh Hefner, the greatest invention of the 20th century. - Geoffrey Botkin

Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrows; it empties today of its strength. -Corrie ten Boom

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