The Increase Sample

SCOTT LINEBRINK

GREAT EXPECTATIONS

Have you ever taken a hard look at your life and realized that the intimate relationship Jesus desires with you feels more like a bad job and less like a growing relationship? It’s easy for anyone who follows Christ to get comfortable with the rules and the routines of Christianity and miss out on what God really desires.

I’m someone who’s always worked extremely hard, especially on the baseball field. I was smaller and slower than everyone else, so I had to work harder. Most of life’s challenges could be overcome with hard work.

Or so I thought.

As I reflect on John 15:1-11, I wonder if we spend our lives confused about who the vine is and who the branches are? We would never admit it—especially among other Christians—but we can come to believe that WE are the vine; that we are the ones who cause growth. If we only work hard enough.

But for me, there’s been nothing sweeter than learning to work as hard as I can, expecting and allowing Jesus to produce His life in me, through me. It’s not about whether or not we work hard. We should work hard, and not become lazy. But we must be extremely careful not to attach outcomes and results and expectations—the things Jesus calls “fruit” in this passage—to our hard work. Life in Christ just doesn’t work that way.

We work our tails off at abiding in Jesus and following closely His every footstep and surprise turn.

He then produces fruit in us.

Jesus didn’t die on the cross so we could follow the rules better. His desire is true intimacy with us along the journey of His leading and our following. And as we learn to live our lives intimately with Him, maybe we’ll come to realize that the name Immanuel ("God with us") is truly the deep desire of Christ’s heart.

My life in baseball tells the story of hard work, expectations, and the God of Peace. I’d love for you to experience it with me now, over at thencrease.org.