Chapter 10

CLING TO CHRIST

We bear fruit by focusing on God.

CONFRONT THE CHAOS

1.     Our culture is characterized by a performance mentality. The focus is on results—at our jobs, in our athletic careers, in our hobbies. We want to know what something can be used for or what it produces.

        •  Do you approach life with Jesus this way? How or how not?

        •  Do you sometimes feel as if following Jesus is another burden? Why or why not?

2.     After reading chapter 10, how should you be approaching a life of following Jesus?

3.     While overcoming anxiety is important, another goal is mentioned in this chapter—one that speaks to our purpose here on earth, a reminder of the bigger picture. Did you pick up on it? Hint: Read John 15:8. Sometimes we need to declutter our spiritual to-do list.

        •  Read Luke 10:39–42 and specifically note what Jesus says to Martha.

        •  What does Jesus desire to see in us?

        •  Combining John 15 and Luke 10, define the one overarching goal for your life.

        •  Does it relieve your anxiety to know Jesus has a singular focus when he looks at your heart?

CHOOSE CALM

4.     Philippians 4 holds several commands: “Be anxious for nothing,” “With thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God,” “Rejoice in the Lord always,” and the list goes on. Chances are, you want to do all these things. This sounds beautiful, but perhaps you are tired. Pain, loss, hurt, and anxiety may have worn you thin, and the thought of mustering enough strength to do these things, to live anxiety-free, is just not something you can take on.

Chapter 10 is an oasis in the desert. Instead of answering more questions, for the rest of this section consider the quotes and the scriptures below. Journal responses to them. Let them wash over you and bolster your strength. Use these passages to practice abiding in Christ.

           “You grow weary of unrest. You’re ready to be done with sleepless nights. You long to be ‘anxious for nothing.’ You long for the fruit of the Spirit. But how do you bear this fruit? Try harder? No, hang tighter. Our assignment is not fruitfulness but faithfulness. The secret to fruit bearing and anxiety-free living is less about doing and more about abiding.”

           “Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. . . . he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit. . . . If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up. . . . If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. . . . abide in My love . . . abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love” (John 15:4–10 NASB).

           “Come, live in me!” Jesus invites. “Make my home your home.”

                “When a father leads his four-year-old son down a crowded street, he takes him by the hand and says, ‘Hold on to me.’ He doesn’t say, ‘Memorize the map’ or ‘Take your chances dodging the traffic’ or ‘Let’s see if you can find your way home.’ The good father gives the child one responsibility: ‘Hold on to my hand.’

                “God does the same with us. Don’t load yourself down with lists. Don’t enhance your anxiety with the fear of not fulfilling them. Your goal is not to know every detail of the future. Your goal is to hold the hand of the One who does and never, ever let go.”

               “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?

                    “So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

                    “Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble” (Matt. 6:25–34).

MEDITATION

“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full” (John 15:9–11 ESV).