Thought of the Day !!

[Jesus says,] "You didn't choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name."
John 15:16 (NLT)

This morning as I read this passage I hear a couple of things. First of all, we are all chosen by God. This is not predestination by the way. We are not chosen to pass or fail. This happens by our choices. We are not chosen to go to Heaven or hell. These too are caused by our choices.

We are all chosen, however, by being given an invitation into the Kingdom of God. We are all chosen to be disciples of Christ. We are all chosen to be with God and the saints in Heaven one day. We are chosen, but we must accept the prize that we're chosen to receive in order to get it. And then we must repent, or make a change from bad choices to good choices.

Let me quote (or at least hopefully not misquote too badly) John Wesley. He believed in predestination. He would say that we are all predestined to the way of salvation. In other words, we are all predestined to receive the calling from God on our lives into a relationship with Him through His Son Jesus. The key to this calling is whether or not we accept.

The second thing I noticed from this passage is that we have a mission. That mission is to produce fruit. We are the gardeners of this world who are called to spread the seeds of Christ and His love. God has equipped each of us with certain gifts for this job. We don't all have the same gifts. But then again, not all the people we will see will need the same things. But the one gift that we all have once Jesus is in our hearts, abiding in us is love. The love of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit resides in us, and is to be used to plant seeds in God's Garden in His Kingdom.

So how's your planting been going lately? May it be blessed this week.

In the love of Christ,
greg