I look at my life and see the fruit appear.  It’s not something I can reach out and hold.  The fruit is more like a receding tide.  Chaos begins to recede or move out of my life, while stability, love, righteous acts, and a determination to continue appear.

Many do not see this kind of fruit in their Christian life.  They pray for help to become godly.  Then they find themselves looking for something rather tangible.  But the fruit of God’s intervention in our lives is not something we can perceive.  Now, I’ll admit that there are times when He moves in and does something that is clearly different and not from this world.  But stopping a bullet in flight toward our heart is not His normal way of doing things.

Look at your life.  You have prayed.  You have developed a mind to know the difference between sin and righteousness.   People have begun to notice that you love God more than the world.  There are certain people you have been praying for that now

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exhibit a difference in their life.  There is a measurable lack of chaos caused by sin.  And there is a marked increase in stability caused by your devotion to the Lord.

²⁰ Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? ²¹ For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. ²² Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, ²³ but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, ²⁴ but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. ²⁵ For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength. (1 Corinthians: 1)

So then, let us not be of those who look for signs and what is called wisdom.  But let us take His promises as if they belong to us.  Let us gather confidence because God cannot lie.  And, above all, let us look to what is, not sitting waiting for a sign from God or a certain thought pattern that will cause men to stand in awe.  We are a people just like those released from bondage in Egypt.  They did not trust God or remember that they had once lived as slaves.  It was for this reason that God said, “They have not known my ways.”  And it was because they did not combine their understanding with faith that God swore on oath that they would never enter His rest.

I am prompted to open my eyes and see what He is doing, as opposed to looking for something I can hold in my hand.  I hope this post has helped to remind my friends of the same thing.  We are urged to remember that life is what is happening while we’re looking for it to happen.