Weather Report From Heaven: Sunny and bright, with an abundance of light and lots of singing and rejoicing.
Bible verse of the day: John 15:5 ” I am the vine and you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”
Insight: Jesus says He is the Potter and we are the clay. He is the Vine and we are the branches. He is the Head and we are the body. He is the Groom and we are His bride. He is the Shepherd and we are the sheep. What do all of these things mean? They mean everything! They mean that we are inextricably tied together to our Creator in a way that one without the other is worthless. What is a Shepherd without sheep? Unemployed! What is a Potter without clay? Dizzy! What is a Groom without His bride? Single! What is a Vine with branches? A stump! What is a Head without the body? Gruesome! We need Christ, and not a day goes by where I don’t realize that more and more. But the fact that He needs us is an amazingly liberating thought when we stop to think about it. That is how important and valuable we are to Him. When our life seems mundane and the banality of it all begins to wear us down, we can always remember that the God of the Universe needs us to play a part in His Grand Creation. And not just any part, but the part that He has designed specifically for us.
But I had never really stopped to think how significant all of this is until the other day when I heard a sermon on the radio discussing this very topic. We may never know until we are home with our Savior in heaven how a kind act, or a simple word of encouragement, helped to change a life, which in turn could change the world in a way that only the Creator could work out. He paints on a canvas that is so much grander and infinite than what we are capable of understanding as humans, that this is the essence of our faith. We must come to the place of complete surrender and absolute trust, understanding that “as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are His ways higher than our ways, and His thoughts higher than our thoughts,” as Isaiah 55:9 reminds us. We are sheep and sheep without a shepherd will wander right off a cliff and fall to their death in their stupidity and frailty. They will leave the green pastures and fresh grass to search for a better place, only to place themselves directly into peril in the desire to be their own master. A good Shepherd never rests as he is always caring for his flock and aware of the myriad of problems that can lead them to destruction. But likewise, this is what He loves to do. He exists to tend to His flock. Without His flock, the Shepherd has nothing to do and nothing to care for. What a blessing it is when you come to understand the symbiotic relationship that exists between God and man, how one without the other is incapable of functioning. God needs man to carry out his plan in this world, and man needs God to have a chance to carry out his plan in this world.
Without Jesus as our Shepherd, we like sheep,would all go astray. Even with Jesus, we still battle our tendencies to want to do it our way, to put ourselves above our Shepherd, to try to work things out with our pride and efforts leading the way. But eventually we get tired and like all sheep, we come back to the place where we can find true rest, under the protective care of our Good Shepherd. Thank God He never leaves us or forsakes us. He needs us as much as we need him. Without clay, a Potter is just sitting idly, watching His wheel go round and round. A Groom without His bride is desperate, alone and hurting. A vine without branches can not bear any fruit, for there is nothing on which for the fruit to blossom. A head without a body can give commands, but there is nothing with which to fulfill the orders. It hit me full force the other day as I was driving in my car. I am nothing without my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, for apart from Him I can do nothing. But it gives me great hope that He needs me to carry out my purpose in His grand mosaic in the sky, whatever that may be. I may never know until I return Home for all of eternity what that purpose was, but I will be excited beyond my wildest dreams when He shares it with me and His glory is revealed. I can rest in that thought alone as I learn to fully surrender, through my fragile faith and His enormous grace, that he will complete the good works that He has begun in me for His glory for ever and ever, Amen.
Prayer: Father God, help us to never forget how much You love us and how much You care for us- not because of anything we’ve done but because of your endless grace, that washes over us. Amen!
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