A Good Picture

What a wonderful day, like David says in the Psalms: Let us rejoice and be glad in it! It is Thursday, a mere day before 'Good Friday' and we are looking forward to a great Easter weekend- great in terms of a fresh realization of the finished work of our Lord Jesus Christ!

In John 15 Jesus shares a wonderful picture of how this 'Life principle', we spoke about yesterday, actually works. Jesus says that He is the Vine, and we are the branches, with His Life flowing through us, bringing forth fruit- fruit that pleases the Father! Can you see the role of the branch here? Does it work hard to bring forth fruit? Is the branch hanging around on its own? No, not at all! The branches are completely dependant on the Vine and His Life flowing through them. All that the branches need do, is receive the Life given and be that which they are, namely: branches. They do not try to be something, neither do they work hard at becoming something. Rather: they just are! No performance necessary, just abiding, just focusing, just receiving, and just letting it flow. But how did we get into the Vine?

1Co 1:30 But God has brought you into union with Christ Jesus, and God has made Christ to be our wisdom. By Him we are put right with God; we become God's holy people and are set free.

One of the tragedies of our time is the 'performance orientated' society that we live in - everything we do is based on performance. We eventually tend to bring this into every area of our existence and we try really hard to impress the Lord by the things we do! Fortunately the Good News is; He has done and finished everything needed for us to live and bring forth the fruit that pleases our Farther! This might sound a bit weird to some, but the point is that many get caught up in the lie that there are still things we need to do to qualify as children of God. The truth is that He has qualified us as His Own in Christ - all we need to do, is to receive it by faith and live the good Life which He has prepared for us and given us! (Ephesians 2:10)

May you have a great day and remember: you are deeply loved by God!