I'm not a thornbush

In the gospel of Luke, Jesus says, “No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers."

I've often thought that once a brier always a brier but I've come to a different conclusion. He also states in Luke 6:46-48, "Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say? 47 I will show you what he is like who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice. 48 He is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built."

Therefore, I now see that we all have the capability and opportunity to bear good fruit as long as we 'put into practice' the thing that will give us a strong foundation. 

What is that practice?

I love His Word as all the big answers to the big questions are there in black and white. Jesus says in John 15:5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing."

Does this actually mean that I can become a fig tree bearing awesome fruit even though I was once a brier? Yes it does my brother and this also means that we can 'train' to be more Christ-like and actually start producing good fruit in our lives once we practice remaining in Him.

Good news!

There's no app for suffering

Today's youth culture has a saying you may have heard, "there's an app for that".

What they are really saying is that there is a digital solution for most issues one may come up against.

This is urban myth as there is no app to remedy people actually struggling with real issues in life. Things like unemployment, low self-esteem, body images issues, sadness and/or loneliness, or just struggling to trust God. These are all things that no 'app' can solve or even assist with. I'm talking about the gut-level feelings that's these issues cause not the high-level stuff. At this point apps are just distractions from the real world problem with which one is struggling. They don't provide answers to any of these issues. 

For real world problems humans always need real world solutions. 

People contact generally helps when sought after in the right manner with humility. Let me explain: Let's call the one who seeks contact the 'sufferer' and the one sought out the 'saviour'. Firstly, if the sufferer were to seek someone else's friendship and companionship for the sole purpose of what one could receive from that person then that is a recipe for burnout as the saviour simply cannot live up to the expectation of solving the problem for the sufferer. Conversely, if the sufferer were to seek the saviour out of an attitude of self-confidence and false humility seeking to assist the saviour somehow whilst in their heart they know it is actually themself who is suffering and needs the people contact. This would be seen by the saviour as fake and not a genuine approach to friendship. This is why the right manner of approach from the sufferer is crucial and to an appropriate saviour.  Let's look now at who might be an appropriate saviour. One could start with immediate family: parents, children, siblings, cousins. These people have blood relationship to the sufferer and therefore have a built-in ability and desire to help the sufferer. After family, current friends and then old established friends that one may have even lost touch with also have deep investment in the sufferer. I'd encourage the sufferer to reach out for people contact but be careful who is seen as a saviour, especially if female sufferer reaching out to male saviour. One has to remember that boys generally have a one-track mind and some will use this opportunity to take advantage. 

There's also another saying in life: nothing is sure in life but death and taxes. Whilst that does sound true I have found a couple of sureties/guarantees in life that I will share with the sufferer. One is that God never fails you and the other is that His Word, the Bible, always helps. 

In fact, I would go as far as to say that there is only one Person and one app that really matters at this point and that is Jesus, the Saviour (capital S) and the Bible app one is choosing to use. Of course you can just as easily pick up the paper version of the Bible :-)

 From one sufferer to another I hope this helps.