Last week I erroneously produced my sermon/blog and posted it with this week’s readings.     To try and get back into sinc, I am this week reproducing a Pastor’s Study which appeared in our local paper, some time ago.                               

                                           Pastor’s Study     

I once  read that 63% of all Canadians are taking some sort of supplement. Most take vitamins; but herbs, and other medications are being taken by people who want to be healthy, have younger-looking skin, maintain their youth, do away with aches and pains and so on.

Some of these supplements are beneficial, and some may not be, and we should check with our  physician before taking them. 

But what does it profit a person to be physically fit if they are spiritually sick?

Some physically fit people commit suicide. Not too many sick people do. They know the value of life.

Plenty of  physically fit people live unhappy lives.

Many physically fit people get into trouble. (You don’t see too many people in wheelchairs being wheeled into court.) 

Being physically fit is fine, but it’s more important to be spiritually fit.

To keep ourselves spiritually fit, we need to stay connected to Christ through attending church regularly, daily prayer, bible reading, meditation, self-examination, Christian fellowship and so on.

It’s called  ‘abiding in Christ.’  

The evangelist John tells us that  when we abide in Christ  we find ourselves loving God and loving others. Others that we might not have loved normally.   

In fact he says, “ Those who say they love God and yet hate their brothers or sisters are liars. If you can’t love those whom you have seen, how can you love God whom you have not seen?’”

The only way to become a loving person is by abiding in Him and being fed by Him. 

I have had a ficus plant for a long time. It has been there.  Barely. Although I dutifully watered it, and turned the pot around weekly, it never grew. It looked the same after fifteen years as the day I bought it.  Then I saw my wife using a product on her outdoor plants, called Miracle Grow. I tried feeding my ficus plant with it, and all of a sudden it began to grow like Topsy. We had to cut it back using garden clippers. It looked like it might take over the house.   

All the time I was just watering it, it was starving.  But once it was fed, there was no holding it back.

It’s easy to be a ficus kind of Christian, isn’t it?   Just kind of ‘there.’ Doing nothing. Just ‘there.’

I know Christians like that, as I am sure you do.

We all need to be fed don’t we?  

Because the truth is that God doesn’t need ‘ficus Christians’. He needs Christians who want to grow, and he offers to feed us with the spiritual food that will enable us to grow, and be fruitful.   

And that, my brothers and sisters, is the meaning of life. Christian life, that is. 

Amen.