Fruitful or Fruitless?

I took a stroll around my yard the other night and while I was doing so I noticed a few things. The normally abundant blackberry bushes had about only a handful of small, underdeveloped berries. The apple trees which produce a number of apples only has a few on them this year. Even the grapes we found on yesterday's walk were tiny. I think much of it has to do with the fact that we've had very little rain this summer and it's been extremely hot. The bushes, trees and vines are pretty fruitless.

Unfortunately, the same can be said for some believers. They come to a saving faith and accept Christ in their life, they experience regeneration and receive the Holy Spirit, but their spiritual growth is stunted. They never grow much beyond the initial belief. They do not have spiritual health and are not experiencing the fullness of Christ. 

Sanctification is the process where believers become more like Christ in their attitudes, actions, motives, and will. There is a divide between the flesh and sinful nature, and the new nature that we receive at regeneration and salvation. Sanctification provides believers with the ability to be able to allow God to work in their lives to widen that gap and bring them into a deeper walk with Himself. 

However, unless there is the desire to go deeper, and a daily, conscious effort to do so many will remain unfruitful vines. It's hard work and often requires learning to say, "No" to our selfish responses and desires, but if we want to grow in our walk with the Lord then it's something we must do. It is the work of God in our lives, but it also requires us being willing to be molded and shaped.

I don't know about you, but I want to bear much fruit. I want to experience the changing power of God's work in my life. I want to be used by God and for my life to bring Him glory.