Are You More Than A Dressed Up Dog?

“He cuts off every branch of mine that doesn’t produce fruit, and he prunes the branches that do bear fruit so they will produce even more.” (John 15:2 NLT)

Several years ago my family went to Colorado for a ski vacation. Anyone with a pet knows there is the added planning element of ensuring your pet is cared for in your absence. At the time, we had a black Labrador named Tessa and were fortunate enough to have friends who offered to keep her for us. They had children at home and had recently lost their own dog, so we knew she would be well loved while we were gone.

Tessa became their daughter’s favorite playmate. They watched TV together, played outside and went for walks together, and even played dress-up together. Tessa was transformed into Hannah Montana, complete with the pink hat!

Tessa was a good sport. But you know what? Nothing my friend’s daughter dressed her up in changed the fact that Tessa was a dog.  A serious (and miraculous) inner transformation needed to occur for Tessa to be anything but a dog.

Part One of our Flourish journey unveiled that all of humankind was created in the image of God. All of humankind became the defaced image of God with the sin of Adam and Eve. We learned that God’s grace manifested in Jesus Christ removes the graffiti that our enemy Satan defaced us with and restores us to our righteous, unblemished state if we receive his gift of salvation. There is a difference between being created in God’s image and being reborn into Christ’s image. Through faith in Christ as our savior, we become one who is now called to grow into the likeness of Christ.

There is a transformation that must take place if we are going to flourish to the glory of God.

All too often, we fall prey to thinking if I look like a Christian on the outside, then it’ll all be good. We buy Christian jewelry and attend Christian concerts. We buy the t-shirt so that when we wear it, others will notice – hey! I’m a Christian!

We put decals and fish symbols on our cars, insist on saying Merry Christmas, and buy a flag that’s more about the cross than bunnies and eggs at Easter. We talk about our Bible studies and leave the evidence lying around our family room.

Maybe we even go so far as praying in public before a meal.

While none of those things are bad, we run the risk of being lulled into the mistaken belief that if I look like a Christian, then I am a Christian.  I don’t really have to change what is on the inside. No one will know.

God has always required more than lip service from his chosen people. Friends, as believers in Christ, we are his chosen people. We become his at the moment of salvation. Our John 15:2 verse alerts us that there is work to be done. Otherwise, we are no different than Tessa dressed up like Hannah Montana. We might look like a Christian when, in reality, we are still a dog.

The transformation that must take place for us to flourish is not external. It’s internal.

The transformation that must take place for us to flourish is not external. It’s internal. Join the #flourish journey Click To Tweet

When my oldest son was two, he gave me a “World’s Greatest Mom” t-shirt. I was never the world’s greatest mom. I had great moments and I had spectacular failures. Over the years I would periodically wear that t-shirt. Sometimes to convince myself, and other times to convince the little people in my life.

No matter how I might have wanted that t-shirt to make it so, if I was going to be a great mom I had to think, feel, speak, and act in a manner that supported being a great mom. This is true no matter what we want to be great at – your sport of choice, parenting, marriage, a hobby, career, or a vocation. We aren’t great because we have the external trappings, the latest equipment, or the best how-to books on our shelves. Our journey to greatness begins when we stop doing the things that make us not great and replace those things with the right habits, the right choices, and the right attitudes.

We are intended, called, purposed to be great Christians. But nothing we accessorize with externally makes it so. Flourishing to God’s glory means we begin with that internal transformation of our thoughts, our emotions, our habits, and our actions.

We are supposed to be great Christians! Join the #flourish journey. Click To Tweet

Changing from the inside out – God cutting out the deadwood – is where we will spend this next part of our flourish journey.

This verse is most often taught in relation to the big “C” Church. I have not often heard it applied to me personally.  When I began to study this passage, I was the director of the women’s ministry in my local church. I regularly prayed for this ministry to bear fruit that glorified God. I only wanted to serve him well. Through this study, the Lord taught me that before the ministry could bear good fruit, I had to personally bear good fruit. Before I could bear good fruit, I had deadwood that needed to be cut out.

The Church consists of congregations and ministries; and those congregations and ministries consist of people like you and me. People who are somewhere in our journey with the Lord. It’s tempting to look around and identify churches, organizations, and ministries that are not good representatives of Christ in our world. Unfortunately, they are out there. But applying it only to the big “C” church lets us keep the work God wants to do at arm’s length.

Instead of abstractly applying this verse to “those people out there who aren’t bearing good fruit,” let’s ask God what is unproductive in our own hearts and our own lives.  In what way am I not bearing good fruit? What is the deadwood in my life that needs to go?

Our communities of faith will flourish when we personally flourish first.  Our local churches and ministries will bear fruit to the glory of God, when the people (that’s you and me) who make up those local churches and ministries first bear fruit to God’s glory in their own lives. Flourishing is personal before it’s anything else.

Flourishing is personal before it’s anything else. #flourish Click To Tweet

Change happens from the inside out. There is deadwood that needs to go.  We are meant to be more than a dressed-up dog.