How about an upgrade?

Let's face it; we are a society that loves upgrades!  We can have a cell phone that works just fine and does exactly what we need it to do and love it...until the next new thing comes out.  We love our car until the new models come out for the next year.  Something in us just wants BETTER.

So why do we settle for the bare minimum when it comes to our walk with Jesus?

Are you in that place of wondering if this is ALL there is to faith?  Waking up early (when you could be sleeping) to go to church on Sunday morning to hear a message that tells you how much you're messing up.  Going to church expecting a jolt of some kind only to walk away thinking, I didn't get anything out of that.  Are you feeling rather ho-hum about the whole being a Christian thing, maybe feeling a little let down?

Well...how much are you putting in it?

Let's go back to thinking about upgrades.  When we decide to upgrade something in our life it is usually going to cost a little more money than the old one, right?  There is a little more investment involved.  We then have to decide whether or not the investment is worth the product.  Whether we are willing to pay the extra money to have the desired gadget.  Our faith journey is no different.

We can have just enough Jesus to keep us out of hell but not enough to allow us to walk in victory and have that abundant life we keep hearing about but not experiencing.  

Say whaaaaaat? 

Yes.  When we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior and we mean that with our whole heart, we are sealed by the Holy Spirit and are now His.  But here is the part we are not so familiar with...how the rest of the journey goes is up to us.  How much Jesus we experience is dependent on our obedience of Him.

John 15:4 says, "Abide in Me, and I in you.  As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me."

That word abide is very interesting.  It means to remain or to stay.  I have often heard the reminder when I have drifted from the path the Lord wants me to walk that He is not the one who moved, I am.  In order to have this "fruit," we must abide.

So...what kind of fruit are we talking about?  The fruit of the Spirit.

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no low."  Galatians 5:22

Now, who doesn't want that kind of fruit in their life?  But it is contingent on our obedience.  We have received the greatest gift of all, eternal life through Christ, by simple belief and confession.  Now the rest of our journey and how much of Jesus we are going to experience is totally up to us.  

How much of those "fruits" do you want?  How much are you willing to invest?  When we walk according to the Word of the Lord, He blesses us with abundant life.  Not money, not riches, not good health, not power...He blesses us with those things that every living soul craves.

Are you tired of a faith that feels dead?  Are you tired of feeling like God doesn't hear you?  If you are, I ask you again:  How about an upgrade?