We all want to make an impact, want our work to matter, want to honor the Lord in all we say and do.

But our impact isn’t always clear or rewarding. The work is layered and taxing. Often along the way our short-sightedness and frustration pull us off towards despondency because the height, depth, and width of the problems we work to solve. We begin to feel a portion of the pain those we serve endure as we help bear their burdens. The scope of the problems are massive, the complexity of the brokenness impossible, but like stated above, we seek to honor the Lord with our lives, so we try to bloom where He plants us. Seems like we get plenty of fertilizer, a little more sunshine a rain would be nice.  

We attempt to bear fruit for him in the midst of intense chaos and uncertaintly. Sometimes we try to push out fruit by sheer grit and determination. Now, perseverance is paramount, and possessing grit and determination is essential in our Christian walk. Conviction and commitment to the work God entrusts to us is important, but, similar to salvation, God doesn’t simply drop us in ministry and service to others then leave us to ourselves. When we are regenerated, He sends His Spirit to dwell in us to conform us to the image of His Son. When He calls us to serve others, He doesn’t just leave us to our own knowledge and cleverness and tenacity to produce fruit for Him. He invites us to lean deeply into Him and connect in ways that can make His strength perfect in our weakness.

We can’t get it twisted. God is not a tool for us, we are a tool for God. We are not Sovereign, He is. We don’t use Him to accomplish our will, we allow Him to use us to accomplish His. That is why we need to remind ourselves daily, hourly, moment by moment, that our lives are not our own. No matter how imperative our work may seem, we must avoid tricking ourselves into thinking the most important thing is maximizing our impact or influence, however noble our intentions might be. Our effectiveness is not measured by the metrics of the world. The metrics of the world are temporal. The metrics we should concern ourselves with are eternal.

John 15 reminds us of this when Jesus, “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear frut by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”

These thoughts aren’t necessarily connected to burnout. We can work 40 hours a week for God and take time for our emotional, mental, and physical health, or we can work 90 hours a week and living on the edge of sacrifice at a Mother Theresa pace, the fact remains that apart from Christ, we can accomplish nothing of real and true and lasting substance in terms of eternal metrics. Abiding sounds like locking yourself away in your prayer closet for 12 hours at a time, but I don’t think it is limited to that. You can abide in Christ at 100MPH. Connectivity is the key.

He is the vine and we are the branches.

The point of all our diligence in laboring for Christ, wherever and in whatever He calls us to, is not to show people how serious or smart or hardcore we are. The point of fruit bearing isn’t to prove our worth or give us glory. The point of fruit bearing as revealed in John 15:8 is to prove God’s worth and to glorify the Father. Fruit bearing proves we are His disciples and are willing to follow Him.

Apart from Him, we can do nothing.