LEARNING DAILY

 

John 15:16, “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.” Jesus

 

I am going to say it again. Jesus Christ is sitting on His throne and He is in control of all things. That takes a lot of pressure off you and me! Because you and I have accepted Him as our Savior and walk on the narrow way with Him as our Lord, we are not alone as we begin each day.

 

Jesus told the disciples that He had chosen each one of them; He had appointed them to be His disciples. Because He had appointed them, He had given them each a direction for their lives. This included living out what He had taught them, sharing the gospel, and winning many people to follow Him, to bear fruit. Bearing fruit means “making life-long disciples for Christ, not superficial believers” (DJSB).

 

All Christians have been chosen by Christ to follow Him and to make disciples; they are to bear fruit. Bearing fruit refers to “spiritual virtues such as the fruit of the spirit found in Galatians 5:22-23 and to share what Jesus has done in their lives” (LSSB). The call to make disciples may be different for each of. One might help another accept Christ through personal testimony, or just taking another to a church that preaches the gospel. Another might be a spark to someone by the way they live their lives, just by being a living example of the love of God. Still another, may be able to give a simple word of encouragement to one who is struggling with issues in their life and perhaps their faith.

 

The remarkable teaching in this verse is that Jesus chose each of the disciples. They did not choose Him. He was telling them that He chose them before they had any real knowledge and affection for Him. I do not know about you, but I was not seeking God when I accepted Him as my Savior. A student reached out to me by giving a book to me to read; it changed my life as I accepted Christ because of it. The Holy Spirit was causing me to seek Him and was leading me to Him all this time. Jesus chose me just like He has everyone of you. There is another remarkable fact in this. He is not surprised by what might happen in the lives of others through you and me. In his devotional, Tony Dungy writes, “We are to make the most of our opportunities to grow and stretch our faith, and to influence others to come to Christ. And in all of that, we are to trust God, guided by His word, to not only be there as we walk through doors He is opening, but to realize that He is leading us through and encouraging us along the way.”

 

It must be known that “God is producing the fruit through the Holy Spirit” (Tony Dungy); fruit is not produced through our efforts. You and I are who He works through and He does not want us to become prideful in what He is doing through us. He alone is God and He alone deserves the honor and the glory for what He does through us. I pray that each of you blesses someone today and impacts a life for the kingdom of God!

 

From now on DJSB will be used to note information or quotes from the David Jeremiah Study Bible and LSSB will refer to information and quotes from the Life in the Spirit Study Bible