In The Crew

There’s a stereotype of the popular kids in school. They’re an inner circle, chosen by….somebody’s standards. They’re like….’the crew’. They get what they want. Everybody knows who they are. Everybody likes them. Everybody wants to be like them. They hold the power of the people, you know? They determine what’s cool (or nah). They run things (that don’t really matter in the end lol). Well, today, I’m here to let you know that you’re in a crew too. Yep…and this one? Ohhhh it’s (as the young folks would say) LIT! 

John 15:16 (NKJV) says “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.” I’ve read and heard this scripture countless times. Yet, when I read it earlier this week, it felt like I was seeing it for the first time. It was a timely reminder for me (and will hopefully be a timely reminder for you) that…
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     He chose us. Intentionally. God wasn’t looking for another person from your neighborhood. He didn’t make a mistake when He picked you. He specifically sought me out and chose me before I knew I had something worth choosing. I was chosen before I gave my life to Christ. I was chosen with low self-esteem. I was chosen when I was broke. I was chosen when I wanted to drop out of school. I was chosen when I was grieving. I was chosen when I was ostracized (I was ostracized because I was chosen). I was chosen when I was trying to give my heart to the wrong people. I was chosen when I was doing right, and I remained chosen when I did wrong. God wasn’t confused when He chose you. He wasn’t out of options. There are about 7 BILLION people on this planet….and He chose you. What did He choose you for though? Well….

     He appointed us to produce fruit. So, not only are we chosen, we’ve been given a job. He’s given us a responsibility to cover. We get to take charge of something (like a boss)!! You have been chosen and appointed to bear fruit. The BBE version says that He appointed us to produce fruit. What is fruit? To me, it’s…life. It’s the result of whatever you do. It’s what you do that impacts somebody else’s life. Good fruit what you do that shows others that God is yet alive. Your fruit is your legacy. We’ve been chosen to produce good things, y’all. ISN’T THAT GREAT?! People often wonder what their purpose is, and many times, I think that we start that journey looking for a specific thing. I think that’s a good…yet misguided intention, because we often deem ourselves useless until we can put a title to it. At the very least, you are chosen and appointed by God to produce fruit. You were created with the intention of doing good in this world. You’ve been selected to be fruitful and have a long standing legacy. 

      I think it’s important that I take a brief pause for the cause & note that this means that you have to work. You’ve been chosen…and appointed…to hustle. We’ve been appointed to produce fruit, but we still have to put in the work necessary to bring it into reality. Being appointed to do something doesn't release you from responsibility or give you a right to reduce your work ethic; it simply provides you with the strength needed to sow, wait, and reap. You need wisdom to bring forth fruit. You have to know the signs of the seasons & when to do what. You also have to be diligent and dedicated to what you’ve sown. The grace that comes with being chosen is that you aren’t doing this work in vain. You’re doing this work with the guarantee that it’ll be fruitful. You’re sowing seeds knowing that regardless of what happens, come what may, what you plant has been blessed simply because it came from hands (your hands) that have been chosen for this work. I’ve been anointed to work, and be successful in that work. I know this because….

     Our fruit will remain. Long after I’m gone, my fruit will stand on this Earth. THAT’S what we’ve been chosen for: everlasting fruit from an everlasting God. Whatever we produce in His power will stand as long as He does. So, we’ve been chosen, by the Ultimate Creator, and He’s appointed us to produce fruit that will live longer than us. You don’t have to worry about losing it. You don’t have to worry about it failing. You don’t have to worry about it dying with you. You’ve been appointed to work, and produce something that will remain throughout time. The most obvious example that I could think of would be kids. For example, my father died in 2005. 11 years later, his fruit remains. I am my father’s fruit. I am not his fruit because I’m his biological child; I’m his fruit because so many pieces of me are rooted in him. I look like him. I laugh until I cry like him. I’m quiet like him. I work like I saw him work. I have his persuasiveness. I have his gentleness. I have his heart. I am his fruit, but you don’t need to have kids to have fruit. Your age may reduce your ability to have children, but it can never reduce your ability to produce lasting fruit. As long as you are here, there’s still fruit in you, and that fruit will bring God glory long after He’s ‘called you home’. 

     We’ve been chosen to receive. We’ve been chosen to ask God Almighty for things in Jesus’ name…and receive them. We’ve been chosen to get access to the very Throne of Grace, and to receive things we could never earn from my Father…because we’re name dropping. We’ve been chosen to be in ‘the crew’. The crew that bears everlasting fruit because they’ve been chosen by the everlasting God, and asked for His favor through the name of His everlasting Son. Regardless of what you’ve done, who you’ve surrounded yourself with, and how bad you may think your life is, you’ve been chosen to receive whatever you ask of God in the name of Jesus. You may not have been in ‘the crew’ in high school, but you’re in a different crew now, and if I must say so myself, this one is much better. 

     So as you go through this day, this week, this month, this year, and the rest of your life, always remember that you were chosen for this. You were chosen for this ‘hustle’. You were chosen to produce everlasting fruit on that job, or on that campus. It will rain. Storms will come. However, your fruit won’t wither, and it won’t get weak. You have been intentionally chosen to be in this place at this time. Why? Somebody around you needs your fruit. Something around you needs to be impacted by what God has placed inside of you. You want to live abundant life? Do what you need to do to produce His abundant fruit. You have purpose. You are not useless. You’ve been appointed to this place at this time to produce fruit. He’s trusted you with it because He knows you can do it. So, go. Go out, and be fruitful, suga. You're #inthecrew now. Be blessed! 

Background Music: I Know Who I Am - Israel & New Breed

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