Because I am not a gardener by any means, if you handed me various seeds, I would have absolutely no idea which plant they would grow into. Once those seeds sprout and grow into plants, however, I would be much more adept at naming the plants I am looking at. If the plants produce fruit, I would be even more likely to name the type of plant I am looking at. The reality is, plants are recognizable by the fruit they produce. The same is true with our spiritual lives. If we are growing and thriving in our relationships with God, we will produce fruit as evidence of our growth, including our obedience.
Throughout Scripture, we learn that followers of Christ are called to produce the fruit of obedience. If we claim to follow God and to know Him, we must obey Him. One day, as Paul taught a crowd about the history of the Israelites in Acts 13, he recounted King David from the Old Testament and his obedience. When he spoke about David, he called him “a man about whom God said, ‘I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart. He will do everything I want him to do’” (verse 22). What made David “a man after [God’s] own heart?" It was his obedience. God knew that David would obey all that he asked of Him. What a remarkable example he set for us!
If we want to follow God and honor Him, we have to demonstrate the fruit of obedience. When God calls us to do something (or to stop doing something), we must obey Him. This fruit of obedience is what honors Him. James said it this way in James 1: “Don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says” (verse 22). God’s word is filled with teachings and instructions to obey that will honor Him and also benefit us if we follow them. We must not read His word, then walk away, turning a blind eye to what He has called us to do. Instead, our call is to obey what God has called us to do in His word.
When it comes to your obedience, are you committed to obey, regardless of what He asks you to do? May each one of us, like David, do all that God calls us to do. Let’s be men and women after the very heart of God, producing the fruit of obedience.
Take a moment to reflect on the question you were challenged to answer during the weekend message: When it comes to your obedience, is there any area of your life where you have lived disobediently? Are you sensitive to your sin, and do you ask for forgiveness? As you reflect on these questions, confess any disobedience in your life. Commit to choosing obedience in every area of your life, and ask God for help as you seek to obey Him.
Prayer Prompt: Use this prompt to guide you as you pray.
1 This letter is from James, a slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ.
I am writing to the “twelve tribes”—Jewish believers scattered abroad.
Greetings!
Faith and Endurance
2 Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. 3 For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. 4 So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing.
5 If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. 6 But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind. 7 Such people should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. 8 Their loyalty is divided between God and the world, and they are unstable in everything they do.
9 Believers who are poor have something to boast about, for God has honored them. 10 And those who are rich should boast that God has humbled them. They will fade away like a little flower in the field. 11 The hot sun rises and the grass withers; the little flower droops and falls, and its beauty fades away. In the same way, the rich will fade away with all of their achievements.
12 God blesses those who patiently endure testing and temptation. Afterward they will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him. 13 And remember, when you are being tempted, do not say, “God is tempting me.” God is never tempted to do wrong, and he never tempts anyone else. 14 Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away. 15 These desires give birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death.
16 So don’t be misled, my dear brothers and sisters. 17 Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens. He never changes or casts a shifting shadow. 18 He chose to give birth to us by giving us his true word. And we, out of all creation, became his prized possession.
Listening and Doing
19 Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. 20 Human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires. 21 So get rid of all the filth and evil in your lives, and humbly accept the word God has planted in your hearts, for it has the power to save your souls.
22 But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. 23 For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. 24 You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. 25 But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it.
26 If you claim to be religious but don’t control your tongue, you are fooling yourself, and your religion is worthless. 27 Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.
