SippingFromWithin

John 15: 6: “ if anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. ” Reading through this verse reminded me of a depiction that referred to the donkey in “The Triumphant Entry” in the book of Matthew 21: 1 – 11. In this illustration, the donkey walked alongside another on the streets of Jerusalem, when one said to the other, “Just yesterday I was here carrying the Lord Jesus and the people were singing, shouting and throwing their clothes down for me to walk on, and today they don’t even recognize me …” then the other donkey simply replied, “that’s how it is my friend, without Jesus you are nothing …” Though brief, the exchange between the two donkeys resonated within me. On a similar note, if a branch must survives and bear fruit it must stay connected to the vine; in that connection, the substance from the vine sustains the branch. This life’s substance obtained, enable...

Recently, a brother told me he had downloaded a song I longed to have in audio format. Excited about the news, I immediately interrupted him to tell how glad I would be to have him send me a copy of the song. However, in the course of me expressing my gratitude he continued his sentence by telling me he had downloaded another, but since I was working and talking, I did not get the detail of the main artist only the featured one. And with the limited information I blurted out saying, “What reason do I have to listen to that artist?” for I did not appreciate the category sang by the artist in question, “I don’t listen to those kinds of songs.” I concluded. “It’s a gospel song by …,” replied the brother in a calm tone. As he replied, I remembered the message from that morning’s devotional which discussed Zaccheaus the Tax Collector, and at the same time I recalled the sermon from the previous Sunday about the parable of the lost son. The thought of these messages humbled me...

The men of the high council were vast in knowledge of the letters, yet the words and works of a young man threatened what they believed in. At various occasions, they had made attempts to pin accusations on him but none stuck. Instead, each attempt against him established what he taught and verified his works. There was a festival and the men of the high council knew that this young man would show up to teach on the court grounds which its town’s folks respected, so they planned to pin something on him as a reference point for their accusations. At dawn he appeared in the courts, where people gathered him, and he sat down to teach them. As the teaching progressed, everyone’s attention was gradually drawn to a ruckus that was without a doubt heading in the direction of the court. The people stood up to get a clearer view and there it was, the men of the court; they had dragged in a woman who was caught in an act, that according to the law strictly upheld by the townsfolk ...

Lots of Christians find themselves at a crossroad when they deeds of their past cuts across their minds. Most of those who are trapped by this are unaware of Christ's finished works on the cross. I like the way Steve Farrar in his book Finishing Strong puts it, he said, “Tell me: when Jesus died on the cross, how many of your sins were future? The obvious answer is all of them. Because when Jesus died on the cross, you were future – and so was I.”