Bearing Fruit For A Purpose
PSALM 37:4
Delight yourself in the LORD, And He will give you the desires of your heart.
Look carefully at the structure of today’s verse. It implies an “ifthen” construction: If you delight yourself in the Lord, then He will give you the desires of your heart. When you delight yourself in the Lord, His agenda becomes your own. His priorities outrank yours. You judge the importance of things by His standard. A person who is delighted in the Lord may very well desire a house or a car or some other nice thing. But they will pray, “Lord, give me this thing so it can become Yours. Meet my need so I can advance Your kingdom.” It is as though God is saying, “If you want My blessings so you can build a kingdom of your own, don’t expect much. I’m only interested in answering the prayers of people who are serious about being fruitful for My kingdom.”
As we read in the book of John, “My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples” (John 15:8). As with every other facet of our lives, we bear fruit to glorify God. In fact, the entire universe exists to glorify God. You and I find our place in the universe by understanding and participating in that divine purpose. The more fruitful we grow, the better we reflect the glory of God and the less we muddy the waters with our own shortsighted agendas. Many of the world’s observatories still use giant reflecting telescopes. They work on a simple principle: An enormous curved mirror gathers faint light from distant stars and reflects it onto a small eyepiece. The reflecting power of the mirror enables astronomers to view the wonders of space. Our fruit reflects God’s glory and enables us to focus His light on our dark, needy world. Your purpose is to glorify God by bearing fruit in His name for your good and the betterment of others.
Lord, I delight myself in You. I want the things that bring You joy and happiness to bring me joy and happiness as well. Thank You for being so clear about my greatest purpose in life—to bear fruit for Your glory and Your kingdom agenda.
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