March
26
I
am the true vine (John 15:1).
The true vine
is that which fulfills the one and only purpose of its existence. So Jesus
brings this illustration over to Himself and His Church, and it is perfectly
clear what is the nature of the Lord Jesus. He is reaching out to all men,
embracing the whole world. He asks ALL the nations into His heart.
ALL men are His concern and not any one nation. He said to His disciples:
"Go ye therefore, and make disciples of ALL THE NATIONS" (Matthew
28:19). It is the very nature of Jesus to do that. It is quite foreign to Him
to be exclusive, small and narrow and self-occupied.... But it is all very well
to think of this objectively. It has to come down to every one of us. What is
the proof that Christ is in you and in me? How can it be known that Christ is
in us? Only in one way – that others are receiving Life through us, that we
minister the Life of Christ to others, that when hungry and needy people come
into touch with us they feel the touch of Life. They may express it in
different ways, but it amounts to this: 'That man, that woman, has something
that I have not got and it is something that I need. There is something about
them that I feel, and it is what I really need.' That should be true of every
Christian because Christ is in us, expanding Himself through us and ministering
His Life through us.
Oh, do pray, dear
friends, every day as you get up: 'Lord, make me a channel of Life to someone
today. Lord, minister Your own Life through me to someone today. May
I bring Life wherever I am.' The Lord has no other purpose for you and for me.
We may try to do a lot of things, but if we belong to the Vine we are no good
for anything but to bear fruit; and that is to bring Life to others.
By T. Austin-Sparks from: The On-High
Calling - Chapter 6
This photograph is from a Facebook page called Live Life in Color.
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