What
a simple thing it is to be a branch, the branch of a tree, or the branch of a
vine! The branch grows out of the vine, or out of the tree, and there it lives
and grows and, in due time, bears fruit. It has no responsibility except to
receive sap and nourishment from the root and stem. And if only we knew, by the
Holy Spirit, about our relationship to Jesus Christ, our work would be changed
into the brightest and most heavenly thing on earth. Instead of there ever being
soul-weariness or exhaustion, our work would be like a new experience, linking
us to Jesus as nothing else can. For, is it not true that often our work comes
between us and Jesus? What folly! The very work that He has to do in me, and 1
for Him, I take up in such a way that it separates me from Christ. Many a
laborer in the vineyard has complained that he has too much work, and not enough
time for close communion with Jesus. He complains that his usual work weakens
his inclination for prayer, and that his many conversations with men darken the
spiritual life. Sad thought, that the bearing of fruit should separate the
branch from the vine! That must be because we have looked on our work as
something other than the branch bearing fruit. May God deliver us from every
false thought about the Christian life. - Andrew Murray
What
a simple thing it is to be a branch, the branch of a tree, or the branch of a
vine! The branch grows out of the vine, or out of the tree, and there it lives
and grows and, in due time, bears fruit. It has no responsibility except to
receive sap and nourishment from the root and stem. And if only we knew, by the
Holy Spirit, about our relationship to Jesus Christ, our work would be changed
into the brightest and most heavenly thing on earth. Instead of there ever being
soul-weariness or exhaustion, our work would be like a new experience, linking
us to Jesus as nothing else can. For, is it not true that often our work comes
between us and Jesus? What folly! The very work that He has to do in me, and 1
for Him, I take up in such a way that it separates me from Christ. Many a
laborer in the vineyard has complained that he has too much work, and not enough
time for close communion with Jesus. He complains that his usual work weakens
his inclination for prayer, and that his many conversations with men darken the
spiritual life. Sad thought, that the bearing of fruit should separate the
branch from the vine! That must be because we have looked on our work as
something other than the branch bearing fruit. May God deliver us from every
false thought about the Christian life. - Andrew Murray