James 4:13-14
Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’ Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.
Fewer and fewer of us are still alive who recall those terrifying days of World War II. Evening radio reports heralded the tides of the battle. Some were encouraging and others heart breaking. In November 1942, as the battle raged, Winston Churchill gave a speech that was filled with both encouragement and caution: “Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is perhaps, the end of the beginning.”
The end of the beginning! As we stand on the threshold of 2014, there have been battles won and lost over the past years. We may have reached the point where we feel that there is nothing left for us to live for. WRONG!
The battle still rages around us and no matter how weak or frail we may feel, there is still work for us to do. God calls us to be fruitful. I spoke with a dear friend in the past few days, and we talked about what “fruit bearing” really means. While it does include soul winning, there is a more basic aspect of bearing fruit.
Galatians 5:22-23a, gives us a list of spiritual fruit: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” Here is the question: Are you bearing this kind of fruit?
May God richly bless you as you bless others by your words and actions!
—Pastor Cecil