One of the greatest joys and blessings of walking with the Lord Jesus Christ is the opportunity to see new people born into his Kingdom. A mature Christian, just like every mature person has the potential for fruit within them unless something is dysfunctional somewhere. In the natural realm you may even produce offspring even when you are not emotionally ready or fully mature. This happens because of the passion involved most of the time in the process of having children. Most people are born from the human standpoint as a result of their parents’ involvement in the pursuit of pleasure or fulfillment not as a matter of planning. It is only when in the course of prolonged pleasure and passion, offspring is not conceived, that a conscious effort is made by those with a passion for children to take deliberate action.  In the Kingdom however there is always an act of deliberation on someone’s part to bring forth fruit of character or souls.

You see, God has already taken deliberate action in the person of Jesus Christ; he willingly gave him up to die on the cross for the sins of the world. While it was not an act of reckless passion it was most certainly an act of incredible love. Greater even than giving us a chance to even exist when he knew the path humanity would take and the grief we would bring him. Sin and depravity was not all our Father foreknew, he saw those of us too who would exercise our own choice to love him in return and delight in serving him. Jesus made a deliberate choice, not just the one before Satan early in his ministry, when he was offered the kingdoms of this world. It was the choice in the garden, when the intensity of bearing the price for the sins of the world, as drops of blood poured from his face. It was not a  case of him being caught up in a moment of pleasure, but a state of unbearable pain and separation that he chose his Father’s will, over his own convenience. The Holy Spirit too, makes a deliberate choice to inhabit our bodies to work in and through us. And yet this can afford him no pleasure as we sin, fall and fail constantly. Imagine the horror of watching from the inside as we defy his temple from the outside. Yet without his choice to strive with us, to call to us and offer us the love of God, we will never come to God on our own.

Every thing in the Kingdom is like that, this constant presence of choice and force. It is Jesus our King who puts it best.
Mat 11:12  And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force.
It means from the time of John the Kingdom of God is forcefully advancing and forceful men and women, as a matter of choice, press their way into it. Nothing happens until someone of their own volition decides to take action. This means your growth potential and the results you want in the Kingdom, is up to you. You get to choose your own priorities and your own values. God gives us his word to instruct those who have chosen on how to attain victory in his Kingdom. His word also reveals the consequences of making the wrong choices and entertaining the wrong passions and priorities. What you will not find is an accidental outcome born from random pursuits.

So don’t think of the Kingdom as a set of rules laid down to kill your joy.
If you are happy with living in your situation, uncertain future, financial struggles, worry, shaky marriages, households in turmoil and even eternity in hell, then choose that.  But if you want the fruit that can only be born from the pursuit of the will of God, then you have to move to excellence by rearranging your priorities and making different choices. The time you spend in prayer, the word, in fellowship, training and sharing the love of Christ with others is the evidence of the choice you have made. The level of your giving, the attention you pay and notes you take, the time you invest and the love in which you walk is the precursor to victory, fruit and souls. The sky is the limit and Heaven on earth is the destination but the choice is yours!

“It’s just a thought!”

EF

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