The one thing that God wants to see above all else in me, and that He prizes above all else, is spiritual life. So highly does He prize this in me that He makes it a condition of service. Aaron was chosen as high priest of Israel because his rod “budded” (Numbers 17:8, KJV); it sprouted with blossom and fruit because God had miraculously given it life. The lesson is obvious: unless I possess spiritual life, I will be fruitless.
God’s people have institutionalized spiritual service. We call a man to be a pastor, and because he is officially a pastor, we expect him to be a mouthpiece for God. Not necessarily. The title is not the life, and the office is not the fruit. God does not bless an office or a title; He blesses a person, and He blesses him because he evidences the flow of spiritual life in his life.
Jesus Christ was a Priest after the order of Melchizedek (Hebrews 5:6). Why? Because Melchizedek was a priest in function, not office. He had no temple, no sanctuary, no ritual; but his life was a continuous outpouring of the life of God in his heart, which blessed others, including Abraham.
Spiritual life is what God requires and what the world craves. Nobody, not even the outspoken agnostic, will refuse the life and fruit that God gives through His church; but everyone will bitterly denounce the “mannequin” aspect of Christianity, form without life. If I am to minister to the world I must have life, the “more abundant” life that Jesus came to offer. Men have no use for “rods” or “sticks” that are beautiful in appearance but helpless to make things new. God is the Reviver of dry bones and the Restorer of parched deserts; He is the Giver of His Spirit, by whom I become gloriously, overflowingly alive (Ezekiel 37:14).
“The thief comes only to steal, and kill, and destroy; I came that they might have life, and might have it abundantly” (John 10:10).
Daily with the King 