The Nourishment of Our Souls
Performance is doing to try to earn something or appear a certain way. It's a false justification. It's striving in our own strength to be who we think we should be by God's standards.
But this is different. This is being faithful, acting out of obedience to what we know is good. This is trusting God to use the time that we give Him even when we don't want to give it. This is emptying ourselves to receive Him.
We don't give up what we'd rather be doing to be seen as more righteous, to appease God, or to convince ourselves we are saved but to allow space in our hearts for God to move. We come to Him begrudgingly or indifferently, trusting that He is the One who fills our time.
These are such similar actions, but one is obedience for obedience's sake, striving, performing, and relying on self; the other is a surrendering of self, a proclamation of trust, and an act of receiving.
The latter is a result of God drawing us in and opening us to receive Him, and in that place our obedience is devoid of striving, flowing instead from a place of abiding in the life of God.
This comes from John 15:1-11.
The foundation of grace. The position of receiving.
What do we do? God chose us. He prunes us that we may bear more fruit. He cleanses us. All we have to do is abide.
We lay down our lives before the One who laid down His life for us, dwelling in His goodness, and in doing so we bear fruit through His efforts. He is our nourishment. When we abide in Him, we receive by nature. He gives of Himself constantly. And as we live in Him, He lives in us.
The branch cannot live if it is not in the vine, but for the branch to receive life, the life of the vine has to extend into the branch. We can do nothing apart from God. As a branch that does not dwell in the vine cannot have life, all striving apart from God withers the soul. But His words are life in our souls.
When we live in that place, we gain the confidence of Psalm 37:4. When we delight in the Lord, He grants us the desires of our heart. Not because we have earned them but because delighting in Him, abiding in Him, will prune away the deceptions of the world and align our hearts with His. Our desires will become His Kingdom desires, which He wants to grant because they are for His glory.
In the place of abiding, we receive life, but we receive more. The vine changes the branch. The branch grows by the strength of the vine and comes into alignment with it. It lives from the vine.
I was shocked when I learned some people saw obedience, striving, and command in the place of abiding; the term has always felt so freeing to me. Following God's commandments is not about performance or self-reliance but a place of positioning ourselves with the vine that we might receive of the vine. It's the place where our joy becomes full as we receive God's joy and fullness. Our souls are satisfied.
"One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple."
~Psalm 27:4
My Bible's commentary says, "friendship with the Lord is everything anyone needs," which is consistent with the relationship we have with Christ put on display in John 15:15, which says, "No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you."
The branch knows the vine intimately. It does not receive in part but in full as the vine doesn't hold anything back. All is known to us. We are His friends.
Position yourself before Him. Receive His life. Abide and be nourished.
He is the vine; we are the branches.
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