Grateful for Family

As I muse the last few days of spending time with family and friends, feasting and enjoying each others company, it leaves me with grateful memories of the genuine love we share. It is a tradition for us to all gather with my mother and her husband for a grand and savory meal of special dishes you wouldn't find at any restaurant. My mother's husband, Ed, is a most eloquent and engaging speaker, whom I consider to be the well accepted patriarch of the family. His prayers before the meal, as we all gather in a circle, hands joined and heads bowed, is always such a masterpiece of heartfelt expression. This year was no different, but the added blessing to us all was his beautifully shared benediction of poetry spoken at the close our farewells. I don't take this for granted because this is my very special family for which there is no equal, and I am most grateful and blessed to be a part.

In reference to the previous post, some of the characteristics of a mature grape were described, but one more is worth noting which is how easily the cluster pulls off the vine when it is being harvested. This analogy gives a good description of a transition that must take place in our walk with Christ if we are ever going to reach maturity and what will be the outcome when we do.

As a young and immature believer, my thoughts were occupied with the hope that if I pursued Christ, all my problems would disappear and I would reach a state of perfect happiness and peace and then I would go about sharing how much fun it was to live for Jesus. Ignorance was bliss in those days and I can well remember wonderful mountain top experiences at Christian retreats, like Tennessee/Georgia Christian camp or the days at University when my band of brothers in Christ and I would spend the weekend at a mountain chalet just to worship God and seek His will and direction for our lives. Many in our group were talented musicians and others were gifted teachers of the scripture which made it all the more wonderful. I still treasure those experiences, but as much a blessing as those mountain top experiences were,  I now look back over those years with a much more sobering perspective.  The real growth of my Christian life took place in the slow, unrelenting, fiery crucible of trials that life seems to have in great abundance.

Just as the grape cluster has a greater purpose beyond more than just looking beautiful on the vine or smelling fragrant so it is with our lives, as we participate with Christ towards becoming or rather being transformed by His Spirit into someone fit for the Master's use. The real hindrance to what God wants to do with our lives is our own self-willed identity (how we see ourselves) and whether or not we are willing to relinquish ownership of that over to Christ. The apostle Paul signed over all rights of his life to Christ when he said, "I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave Himself for me." Gal.2:20

For the sake of the illustration, the cluster reveals itself as being fully mature not only when its flavor is right, but as the master gently tugs it is easily drawn from the vine, just so, is our Heavenly Father  able to separate us from our own self-centered wills and we entrust ourselves into His capable hands for His special purpose. Jesus said, "If any man will come after me he must deny(disown) himself take up his cross and follow me" Within this list there is no evidence of anything to sustain the life of self, but the believer who follows Christ in this way is promised throughout scripture to have life and life abundantly and all the fruitfulness that is in every good work of God.

"For the ground that drinks the rain which often falls on it and brings forth vegetation useful to those for whose sake it is also tilled, receives a blessing from God; but if it yields thorns and thistles, it is worthless and close to being cursed, and it ends up being burned." Heb. 6:7-8

In his book on Hebrews, Holiest of All, Andrew Murrray, a Dutch reformed pastor in the mid to later 1800's wrote about "deeper life" themes which speak to our need of paying much closer attention to the call of God into a life of holiness. The theme of holiness is predominant throughout the book with many warnings for "neglecting so great a salvation"

In our age of quick fixes and immediate results,  the word from James 1:4 of allowing endurance to have its perfect result so that we would be perfect and complete lacking in nothing, has an undergirding strength, which gives us a sense that God will produce value, even from the things which cause us greatest consternation.

In the vineyard, an experienced vine dresser knows just when the grapes are ready for harvest by tasting them to see if they have lost their bitterness and the right amount of sweetness has been achieved. Just looking to see if they have changed color on the outside is not an indication of ripeness, so it is necessary to do further testing before harvest. What kind of aroma does the plant give off is one indication, but the true test is to taste and know what the eyes and nose can't discern. Some varieties are harvested earlier because they mature more quickly while others take much longer, but whether early or late in the season each has its own special and distinct flavor for which the vine dresser patiently waits.

Patience seems to be a virtue missing in our culture today and consequently the affects can be seen every day as we drive to work. In the midst of such trying times, what are the flavors that are most evident in our lives. We might have a beautiful color on the outside, and even a pleasant fragrance, but what happens when we are  squeezed a bit. May the flavor we produce be a pleasing one to the Father, and if not, may we have the patience and the faith to know that our heavenly Father is waiting patiently for the external factors at work outside of us to be used to produce something of great value and pleasure to Him.