Often in our search for significance in the Body of Christ many of us often find ourselves seeking to be labeled a certain way (as many have come to think that if you have or possess certain titles in the Spirit realm you’ll attract a certain audience).
While in and of itself there’s nothing necessarily wrong with a title, the Fruit upon the tree of your life will be the revealer of what kind of tree you are and not just because you’ve placed a label upon it.
I remember going through my grandmother’s pantry one afternoon and I came across an unlabeled can on the shelf. Wondering what was in it I went to my grandmother and asked her, she suggested that I open the can and find out. As I opened the can up, the fragrance of very ripe Bartlett Pears filled up the room and my grandmother and I feasted upon delicious ripe pears.
Upon opening it up, the Fragrance and the Fruit gave away that the unlabeled container was delicious pears. While having a label on the can would have helped identify its contents, it was experiencing the Fragrance and the Fruit that revealed the content of the can.
“For we are the SWEET FRAGRANCE OF CHRIST [which exhales] unto God, [discernible alike] among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing:” 2 Corinthians 2:15
There are many people out there with incorrect labels in the Body of Christ. As soon as they open up their mouths, the fragrance of what they really are is going to give away whether or not the titles that they hold are true or false.
As we are called to judge the fruit of the Spirit and not gifts of the Spirit:
“You will fully recognize them by their fruits. Do people pick grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles? Even so, every healthy (sound) tree bears good fruit [worthy of admiration], but the sickly (decaying, worthless) tree bears bad (worthless) fruit. A good (healthy) tree cannot bear bad (worthless) fruit, nor can a bad (diseased) tree bear excellent fruit [worthy of admiration].” Matthew 7:16-18
The Title Upon your life should be a reflection of what your life produces, and not the other way around. As I continue to walk farther and farther down this road following Jesus Christ, I have found that your function in the Body of Christ, creates the Fruit upon your Tree, and it is that fruit that causes others to place titles upon you.
While too many of those titles really bring Personal Significance, I’d prefer to stay Focused On Fruit in my Life.
Everyone wants to be an Apostle or a Prophet without realizing the enormous amount of suffering and death to self that is required to be those things, but almost all of the real Apostles and Prophets that I have ever met personally never wanted to be that in the first place.
As Long as My life is producing the Fruit of the Spirit (regardless of a Label), people will take a bite of the Fruit of my life, (Hopefully) smell the Fragrance of Life from Jesus Christ in me, and as a result encounter the Living God through what He’s producing in me.
“Let another man praise you, and not your own mouth; a stranger, and not your own lips.” Proverbs 27:2
Let someone else put a Title upon your life, as long as they’re receiving it from the Lord, through your life, you’ll never lose your reward!
Featured Image by StartupStockPhotos from Pixabay
The views and opinions expressed by Kingdom Winds Collective Members, authors, and contributors are their own and do not represent the views of Kingdom Winds LLC.
Comments are closed.