Back to the Basics

The Christian faith is characterised by a steady, humbling sanctification. In a faith that is alive in Christ, one expects to see the fruit of wise, prayerfully made decisions. On the other hand, a faith that is not alive results in no such fruit. Jesus makes this clear to us in John 15, comparing believers to branches on a vine; so long as those branches stay connected to the vine, there is life, growth, and fruit.

But so often in our lives we may look around and find ourselves not bearing the fruit we expected. We may not see the growth and vitality that we thought to be in season. 

If we’re willing to do some self-examination, we may find that our connection to the Vine is not quite as sturdy as we thought. As we assess how we got to where we are, we may find that what looked like real relationship had become cold. Mechanical. Religious.

If that’s you today, stuck in cycles of religion and empty actions–reading some verses, repeating a prayer, and otherwise getting wrapped up in worldly affairs–I would like to encourage you: you are not the first person to experience this, and you are not alone.

In fact, Scripture points to an entire church that was found to be doing all the right things but with a cold, dying connection to the Vine. Revelation 2:2-4 relays Jesus’ own words to the church in Ephesus. Jesus said to them, “I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first.”

The church in Ephesus was doing all the right things. In fact, they are even commended for it. But somewhere along the way, they allowed all the right things to become the only things. They traded in a living, breathing, loving relationship with their Saviour for a set of actions that could be performed over and over to clinical perfection.

Maybe you are someone who loves routine, and you’ve nailed your quiet times to be exactly 15 minutes every day. Or maybe you know that you thrive on excitement and experiencing God in nature, but you’ve let your days and weeks be sucked up by a corporate job that you know God gave you. Maybe you love to sing freely to God on a Sunday morning, but self-consciousness has robbed you of the privilege.

We all find ourselves in spaces where we either are doing all the right things while our hearts are not in it, or even where we are no longer doing the things that we know fostered our living, loving relationship with our Saviour, our Vine. We find ourselves with a faith whose leaves are beginning to dry out. The flowers we once thanked God for are long gone, and the dreams of bearing fruit have been buried by worry and busyness.

If that is you today, you are not the first. And you are not alone. And you are not too far gone.

To the relief of the church in Ephesus and countless Christians in the centuries since, Jesus carried on. He said, “Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first.”

I hope that those words feel like water to parched lips. I hope that you feel as if the clouds have broken overhead and the sun is shining again. How easy our Saviour has made it! How simple it is to return to His loving arms. Oh, the life that He has for us! 

You are not too far to once more feel the life and the love that you felt at first. Jesus’ promise to His church is that they can still repent. They can still turn from their cold, mechanical ways and find the warmth and vitality of a real, deep, living, breathing relationship with their Saviour again.

If you find yourself in a rut of religion, or a cycle of sin, please do not stay there. There is life to be gained and fruit to bear, and it is only waiting for your repentance. Turn away from your dead works that only make you more dead; turn to the living God who wants to give you life, and life in abundance.