Be Fruitful – Fifth Commandment

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Be Fruitful

Exodus 20:12; Deuteronomy 5:16

“Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God commanded you, that your days may be long, and that it may go well with you in the land the LORD your God is giving you.”

Jeremiah 29:5, 7

“Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce…seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you…”

Work for Blessing

Doubtless many believers today are feeling like they have been exiled to a foreign country. We were promised change by our new President, and already it is clear, he meant what he said. Many of us will find certain of those changes disagreeable, and we may be tempted to wish our President ill and his policies to fail. But that would be to curse our President, not to seek God’s blessing for him. Our responsibility in honoring the present administration is to continue to be fruitful, productive, contributing members of the social order – morally, socially, economically, culturally, and above all, spiritually. We are not free simply to sit back and pot-shot the present administration as it fumbles and stumbles its way through some very difficult times. It may well be that the policies and programs of the Obama administration will end up on the ash heap of history. But if that is to be case, let it not be for want of our trying to do what is right and contribute what is good to the needs of our nation at this time. We do not honor God when we fail to honor our rulers, and honoring our rulers requires that we do everything in our power to be salt, light, and leaven of grace and truth wherever we have influence. It is unbecoming a Christian to wish ill upon the country that hosts him as he seeks the Kingdom of God and his righteousness. Let us instead bring goodness, beauty, and truth into every area of our society we have a presence and opportunities to serve the Lord.

In what areas of life do you have the opportunity to inject a presence for God? What would that look like – at home, work, in your neighborhood, in the community – if you could be more actively involve in seeking the welfare of your community?

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“In the Gates” is a devotional series on the Law of God by Rev. T.M. Moore

T. M. Moore is editor of the Worldview Church. He serves as dean of the Centurions Program of the Wilberforce Forum and principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He is the author or editor of twenty books, and has contributed chapters to four others. His essays, reviews, articles, papers, and poetry have appeared in dozens of national and international journals, and on a wide range of websites. His most recent books are The Ailbe Psalter and The Ground for Christian Ethics (Waxed Tablet).

Scripture quotations in this article are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, (c) copyright 2001,2007 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Editor’s note: The use of a translation other than the Authorised Version in an article does not constitute an endorsement in whole or in part by The Christian Observer.