I Want Lasting Fruit Flavor

Why do I let my body and mind get away with so much? I just serve it up some hot, smoking tobacco whenever it craves it. Sometimes I smack away the romantic fantasies that swim around constantly but sometimes I indulge them. Then real life starts looking bland and dull and unsatisfying.

I'm sure glad my emotional condition isn't a sign of my spiritual condition. Most of the time I feel like I am actually the devil's kid. Maybe it's because his minions spend a lot of time accusing me or tempting me. Why they are so close they almost feel like family! What I'll probably find out is that they hardly hung out at all. It's possible that all this corruption comes from my fallen heart. Either way, sometimes it's tough to imagine that I am in God's family.

I saw that movie, "The Nativity Story" last night. It was beautifully made and biblically accurate. It was like cool, crisp, living water down a dry throat. God is merciful to allow His story to be told through Hollywood. I believe that some people wouldn't have a chance of understanding the gospel if it wasn't in a movie. Who reads historical documents anymore?

Jesus said, "You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name." John 15:14

That's heavy. How do I do what Jesus commands? Everything in me takes so long to convince. It has taken me this long to understand that I'm loved by God and it's still being doubted regularly. I can only be changed, I cannot change myself. So I wait and pray and trust.