When Activity Flows From Abiding in Christ
In Part One, I wrote about the deception of activity. We can be doing many things, even good and Christian things, and yet activity itself is not evidence that we are walking closely with God.
In Revelation 2:2–4, Jesus says:
“I know your works, your labour, your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have tested those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars; and you have persevered and have patience, and have laboured for My name’s sake and have not become weary. Nevertheless, I have this against you, that you have left your first love.”
This church was known for many things: they worked hard, they persevered, they were patient and they did not tolerate evil. They tested false apostles and recognised liars. They laboured for the name of Christ and did not become weary.
Yet Jesus saw through their activity into their hearts.
Activity is never meant to become our identity, our measure of spirituality or our substitute for intimacy with Him.
So where, then, should our activity begin?
With Jesus.
Everything must flow from abiding in Him.
Jesus said:
“Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine.”
John 15:4
The branch does not struggle to manufacture fruit. It remains connected to the vine, receives life from the vine, and fruit comes from that life.
This changes how I understand Christian activity.
Our activity is not something we generate and then ask God to bless. It flows from a life rooted in Him, surrendered to Him and responsive to Him.
From the depth of our heart and from our all comes the deep desire to give Him our all.
All of Us for All of Him
Romans 6:13 says:
“Offer yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer every part of yourself to him as an instrument of righteousness.”
The Greek word hopla, used in the original Greek text, means instruments or weapons and was commonly used to signify military weapons.
Weapons of righteousness.
I find that image powerful.
A weapon is a mere instrument wielded by someone. It needs to be actively used. And considering that every part of us is a weapon, we are reminded that we are engaging in warfare and that there is an “enemy” we are engaging against: Satan and his cohorts! Whether we like it or not, the moment we make a choice for Jesus, we are thrown into the forefront of the battle between God and the evil one.
But Paul has already told us something important earlier in Romans 6:
“For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be rendered powerless, that we should no longer be slaves to sin.”
Romans 6:6
The Greek word translated “rendered powerless” is katargeō. It means to render ineffective, to put out of operation, or to deprive something of the power it once exercised.
So that brings me to this realisation: in everything I do with all of me, I need the Holy Spirit to help me be alert and katargeo (destroy, cut away) anything and everything that presents itself as ungodly or unholy and brings grief to the Father’s heart and to mine as well. Why? Because I am His and He is mine.
Friends, God does not merely ask for a portion of us.
He asks for all of us.
Our mouths.
Our eyes.
Our minds.
Our hands.
Our feet.
Our abilities.
Our time.
Our attention.
Our affections.
Everything surrendered to Him.
Our mouths become weapons of righteousness when they speak words of hope, truth, love, peace and life, words that build rather than tear down.
Our eyes belong to Him. What are we allowing ourselves to continually look at? What are we feeding our minds with? Are we giving ourselves to things that please Him, or filling ourselves with junk in the name of mindless entertainment?
Our time belongs to Him.
Our attention belongs to Him.
Our affections belong to Him.
And sometimes the answers to very simple questions can reveal much:
What has my attention?
What has my time?
What has my affection?
Perhaps an even deeper question is:
What has me?
When Jesus has us, activity takes its proper place.
It becomes an overflow of surrender.
When Circumstances Change
This is why I find Paul and Silas in Acts 16 so striking.
They had been stripped, severely beaten with rods, thrown into prison and fastened in stocks.
Yet at midnight, they were praying and singing hymns to God.
How could they look heavenward while their bodies must have been throbbing with pain?
Their pain was real.
But their pain had not become the center.
Jesus was still the center.
Their circumstances had changed, but the source from which they lived had not. Their circumstances revealed their source!
Even in prison, their mouths still belonged to God.
They prayed.
They sang.
And when the jailer believed the prisoners had escaped and was about to kill himself, Paul cried out:
“Don’t harm yourself! We are all here!”
Paul had just been brutally beaten and imprisoned. Yet even in his own suffering, he could still see another human being in need.
Soon Paul and Silas were proclaiming the gospel to the jailer and his household.
Their suffering did not turn all their attention inward.
They remained available to God.
A Life Rooted Beyond Circumstances
Recently I have also been deeply moved by the life of Pranitha “Pinky” Timothy, who died this past week, on 9 August, at just 51 after battling a brain tumour for several years.
For nearly three decades she worked among vulnerable people in South Asia, fighting bonded labour and human trafficking and helping bring freedom, dignity and hope to thousands. She later served as the Lausanne Movement’s Regional Director for South Asia.
Even as illness brought chronic pain and slowly diminished her voice and eyesight, she continued to champion those suffering under injustice and oppression.
Her death especially breaks my heart because she leaves behind a husband, a daughter and a son, and her children are around the age of my own. Our daughters connected during COVID.
Her life makes me think again about where our activity comes from.
What struck me most about Pranitha was her testimony. Despite her frail figure and a voice largely stolen by the brain tumour, she continued to do daring things for Jesus. In a world constantly pursuing appearance, presence, polish and looking good, her life shone for another reason. Her centre of gravity was Jesus. You could see it in the way she lived, in the courage with which she served, and in the way she loved. Her life testified to a desire to please her Maker.
Her activity did not draw its power from how impressive she appeared. It flowed from the One to whom she belonged.
When our life is centered on Jesus, temporary circumstances do not become our foundation because they were never our foundation to begin with.
Jesus is.
Paul and Silas could worship in prison because prison was not their source.
Pranitha could continue loving and serving through profound physical limitation because illness did not define the whole meaning of her life.
The activity flowed from somewhere deeper, from a heart wholly committed to serving Jesus. He was their central focus.
Pursuing With All of Us for All of Him
This, I believe, is the difference between mere activity and fruitfulness.
Fruitfulness begins with abiding.
We receive from Him.
We surrender ourselves to Him.
And from that spiritual freshness flows what we do.
Our activity becomes evidence of a life being offered to Jesus.
We do not need to prove ourselves.
We do not need to earn His or anyone’s approval.
We do not need to prove our worth by what we accomplish.
Our activity flows from our love for Jesus and His love for us.
Romans 12 says:
“Offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. This is your true and proper worship.”
All of me for all of Him.
To begin with Jesus.
To abide in Jesus.
To allow everything I do to flow from Jesus.
Then, even when circumstances change, when plans are interrupted, when suffering comes or when life becomes difficult, the foundation remains.
Because the foundation was never the activity.
The foundation was always Christ.
And from a life wholly surrendered to Him, activity becomes something beautiful.
We are not striving or proving ourselves to anyone.
But we serve and give of ourselves to an audience of One: Jesus.
And our activity?
Our activity becomes what it ought to be: a sweet offering to Jesus.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, I come before Your throne of grace and ask the Holy Spirit to help me be alert and allow anything and everything that presents itself as ungodly or unholy to be katargeō, put out of operation, so that it no longer governs me. I repent and renounce my part in allowing this to happen from the depth of my heart with deep sorrow. I ask that You will cleanse me, revive me and restore me so I can follow You and serve You and You alone with all of me. All of me for all of You alone. In Your Precious Name, Lord Jesus, amen.
Pranitha’s powerful testimony:
Friends, for those of you who do not know about Pranitha’s life’s work, here is her powerful testimony delivered at GLS many years ago: