Your identity in Christ

• In Christ, we are the fruit of Jesus' labor, forgiven of our sins and saved for His family.

John 15’s Vine-and-branch analogy is often brought up to talk about bearing fruit as Jesus’ disciples. But before we “bear fruit” as His disciples we must first “be fruit” – the fruit of Jesus’ labors, the product or “produce” of Jesus' work – saved from our sin. He has borne our sin and borne us to the Father.

First we are forgiven, then empowered to bear that forgiveness reflectively as we love and forgive others. From this point we can also see the fruit of the Spirit develop as we keep in step with the Spirit in our daily living.

Prayer Prompt

Thank God that you have been forgiven of your sins and that through faith in Christ you are part of the bumper crop known as the sons and daughters of the King, enabled to be both born of God and borne to God.

---

Micro-Meditation

Psalm 127:2

2. In vain you rise early and stay up late,
   toiling for food to eat—
   for he grants sleep to those he loves.
   

Teaching or Command of God:

Ecclesiastes 2:21

For a person may labor with wisdom, knowledge and skill, and then they must leave all they own to another who has not toiled for it. This too is meaningless and a great misfortune. 

---

Deuteronomy 33:12

12 Let the beloved of the LORD rest secure in him, for he shields him all day long, and the one the LORD loves rests between his shoulders.

Pondering Point

The point in Psalm 127:2 is not to denigrate hard work, but to balance hard work with a mindset that things are still ultimately in God’s hands and not our own.