Ye Did Not Choose Me, But I Chose You, and Appointed You
That Ye Should Go and Bear Fruit--John 15:16
The branch does not choose the vine,
or decide on which vine it will grow. The vine brings forth the
branch, as and where it will. Even so Christ says: "Ye did
not choose me, but I chose you." But some will say is not
just this the difference between the branch in the natural and
in the spiritual world, that man has a will and a power of choosing,
and that it is in virtue of his having decided to accept Christ,
his having chosen Him as Lord, that he is now a branch? This is
undoubtedly true. And yet it is only half a truth. The lesson
of the Vine, and the teaching of our Lord, points to the other
half, the deeper, the divine side of our being in Christ. If He
had not chosen us, we had never chosen Him. Our choosing Him was
the result of His choosing us, and taking hold of us. In the very
nature of things, it is His prerogative as Vine to choose and
create His own branch. We owe all we are to "the election
of grace." If we want to know Christ as the true Vine, the
sole origin and strength of the branch life, and ourselves as
branches in our absolute, most blessed, and most secure dependence
upon Him, let us drink deep of this blessed truth: "Ye did
not choose me, but I chose you."
And with what view does Christ say
this? That they may know what the object is for which He chose
them, and find, in their faith in His election, the certainty
of fulfilling their destiny. Throughout Scripture this is the
great object of the teaching of election. "Predestinated
to be conformed to the image of his son." (to be branches
in the image and likeness of the Vine). "Chosen that we should
be holy." "Chosen to salvation, through sanctification
of the Spirit." "Elect in sanctification of the Spirit
unto obedience." Some have abused the doctrine of election,
and others, for fear of its abuse, have rejected it, because they
have overlooked this teaching. They have occupied themselves with
its hidden origin in eternity, with the inscrutable mysteries
of the counsels of God instead of accepting the revelation of
its purpose in time, and the blessings it brings into our Christian
life.
Just think what these blessings
are. In our verse Christ reveals His twofold purpose in choosing
us to be His branches: that we may bear fruit on earth, and have
power in prayer in Heaven. What confidence the thought that He
has chosen us for this gives, that He will not fail to fit us
for carrying out His purpose! What assurance that we can bear
fruit that will abide, and can pray so as to obtain! What a continual
call to the deepest humility and praise, to the most entire dependence
and expectancy! He would not choose us for what we are not fit
for, or what He could not fit us for. He has chosen us; this is
the pledge, He will do all in us.
Let us listen in silence of soul
to our holy Vine speaking to each of us: "You did not choose
Me!" And let us say, "Yea, Lord, but I chose You! Amen,
Lord!" Ask Him to show what this means. In Him, the true
Vine, your life as branch has its divine origin, its eternal security,
and the power to fulfill His purpose. From Him to whose will of
love you owe all, you may expect all. In Him, His purpose, and
His power, and His faithfulness, in His love let me abide.
I chose you. Lord, teach
me what this means--that Thou hast set Thy heart on me, and chosen
me to bear fruit that will abide, and to pray prayer that will
prevail. In this Thine eternal purpose my soul would rest itself
and say: "What He chose me for I will be, I can be, I shall
be."
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