“I am the vine, and you are the branches. If any remain in Me and I remain in them, they produce much fruit. But without Me they can do nothing.” John 15:5 (NCV)
Today my husband and I had an unplanned state-of-the-finances talk. (Do those ever bring on warm-fuzzy feelings?)
We usually do this about twice a year, and today the conversation jumped right up and smacked us. We realized that we’d been spending a little too freely in recent months. While often not super-uplifting, financial gut-checks are beneficial just like taking the time to assess where we are in any area of life.
It’s easier to keep going with the status quo than it is to pause and consider whether the path we’re on is the most fruitful. Take our spiritual life, for example. We can easily get into a pattern of attending church, doing ministry, putting in a certain amount of time reading the Word and praying.
We can go through the motions, but is the heart really seeking to know Jesus better through the time we invest in activities that appear spiritual? If the things my husband and I invest our money in (aka spend it on) are not productive and useful for the long term, we may be wasting money and being too frivolous with the dollars we’ve been given.
Spiritually speaking, if we invest our spiritual energies without really considering the primary goal of knowing Jesus better, then we’ll end up draining our spiritual resources just as we can drain our financial ones. If our spiritual life isn’t deepening our connection with Jesus the Vine, then we, the branches, will dry up.
I think the next time I take out my credit card at a store, I’m going to cross-check my investments both financially and spiritually. How’s that for checks and balances?
Faith Step: Spend some time today investing in your relationship with Jesus.
