(Submitted by Beauty For Ashes)
Be somebody - reach somebody! Which is it that the Bible teaches? Actually it’s both! Everyone is somebody in the Lord Jesus Christ. The day you became saved, certain things happened to you. You became endowed with certain things, fruit! Whether the fruit grows depends on if you are abiding in God and letting Him grow what He wants. It’s an absolute fact that when we are saved, and receive the Holy Spirit, we also receive a certain amount of fruit. It is by these fruits that we are known by. It is by one of these fruits (LOVE) that people know that we are truly One of His disciples. In fact, without it (LOVE), we really have no right to call ourselves Christians.
Galatians 5:22 - “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.”
So you see, we are somebody. We are people who have the above. But, where does our problem lie? Is it we need to ask for “certain spiritual gifts”, listed in 1 Corinthians 12:4-11, to be an even “bigger somebody?” NO! Look closely at the list. God gives them to us. He gives us the fruits and the gifts. We don’t choose or pick some technique, or grow camels knees praying, wanting to get what we want to really be somebody. God gives us what is best suited for us. It “ain’t” such a big deal what gift you have or do not have any way. If you are given the spiritual fruits and gifts then the comfort, grace, and peace of God will enable you to use them effectively, to be a blessing to the rest of the parts of the body of believers. If you are striving to be somebody, then you need to look at who you are, because God already made you a unique part of His Body, and you should be known as His disciple by the love you have.
A disciple is one who learns, and sooner or later, learns to surrender their will to God, and grows in grace and abides in Jesus:
John 14:4 - “Abide in me, and I will abide in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must abide in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. If a man abides in me and I an him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”
If you’re into fruit inspection…if you “ain’t” doing it God’s way, it’s plastic fruit. No matter how good it looks, tastes, smells, and even if it has Jesus’ name tacked on the end with an amen, it’s still plastic.
A disciple is also one who knows that faith is simple and that it comes by hearing the Word of God. What really impresses most of us is the kind of love that both believers and those who don’t believe as we do can see, in word and deed, and really know for sure that there is something different about us, and that we truly are His disciples.
