Well, another good day. I rode 41.2 miles in 2 hours and 6 minutes for an average of 19.4 mph. It was a great day weatherwise with a bright sun and in the low 70's. Other than going through a couple of small villages, we were out in the wilderness of west Texas. I started slow this morning but seem to speed up the further I went and struggling at first I seemed to feel better with each mile. I guess that is the way it is sometimes.
I really am amazed by John 15. John15:4 goes on to say, "As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me." It is obvious the Lord wants and expects us to bear fruit. But in this verse He gives us the key to doing that. To truly bear fruit, one must abide in the vine or in Him. Jesus had already told the disciples that He was the vine. That means He is the root system and the main stem. That means in the plant realm, that He supplies all the nutrients, water, and food, that the branches require to grow, produce, stay healthy, bloom, set the crop, and bear fruit. Jesus does the same thing for His branches, you and I as believers. He supplies everything we need to produce a crop. We get all the strength, and feeding we need to bear fruit, good fruit.
Does a branch ever think it could produce on it's own? Well, they may not, but we humans do. We often try to do things in our own strength or ability. Or, we know that we can't do it without Him but we don't give Him the credit that He should have. 1Corinthians 10:31 says, "Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all to the glory of God." See, we can't do it on our own, but He wants us to ackmowledge it. We do that most when we bear fruit, but not just bear fruit but acknowledge to everyone His working in and through our lives. As John the Baptist said, "He (Jesus) must increase, I must decrease." As we do that, we glorify Him and bear more fruit." Talk to you tomorrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment