The Barna research group reported that “Of more than 70 moral behaviors we study, when we compare Christians to non-Christians we rarely find substantial differences.”
Something is terribly wrong.
Perhaps this, even though not written directly about us, describes us: Matthew 13:15 “For the hearts of these people are hardened, and their ears cannot hear, and they have closed their eyes—so their eyes cannot see, and their ears cannot hear, and their hearts cannot understand, and they cannot turn to me and let me heal them.”
If we want what we can produce, we just need to do more and be better and we might see some subtle improvements. But if we want what only God can produce (Galatians 5:22-23 But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.) then we will have to do this His way.
For a branch on a fruit tree to produce fruit it must do one thing. It must stay connected to the tree, the trunk. Connected, it will produce fruit. Disconnected it will not. To really follow Jesus you must stay connected moment by moment. To produce what God desires to produce through your life you must stay connected minute by minute but so often we don’t. We usually just give God an acknowledgment or two during our busy days and that just gives us the illusion of being connected.
The #SHC6060 experiment will start you on a journey of more and more connectedness with Jesus. The #SHC6060 experiment: Set an alarm on your phone or watch to alert you every hour of your awake day (and place sticky notes where you will see them often; when the alarm goes off… pause and talk with God… tell Him this next hour is His… Ask Him to direct you and guide you… Listen to Him… Respond to Him… stay connected to Him; share with us on your social media using #SHC6060 how God is directing you.
We will fail more than we succeed in staying connected to Jesus but we will succeed more and more as we stay connected to Jesus.
I’m so glad you are on this journey with us!
