Key Scripture:
John 15:8. “By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.
Key Idea:
How can we glorify God? Not by adding to His glory or bringing Him any new glory that He has not. But simply by allowing His glory to shine out through us, by yielding ourselves to Him, that His glory may manifest itself in us and through us to the world.
— Murray
Pray for revelation:
Father, glorify Thyself in me.
— Murray
Key words:
Glorify God,
Bear Fruit,
Be Disciples.
These three concepts are really only one. Abide. The ultimate goal is that God be glorified. That he recieves the honor he deserves. The greatest glory that God can recieve is to have us be good, productive, fruit bearing branches.
Just by remaining attached to the vine, Jesus, and letting the sap, the Holy Spirit, work in us, we will be known as true disciples, and be a continuous glory to God.
We were created to be part of God’s work. He would rather have his intelligent creation respond and do his work as a result of personal desire. Not just doing it because we are told to, or because we are made that way and have no choice in the matter.
The word resonate comes to mind. It is sometimes overused, but consider what it means. Think of an echo. A person shouts and the sound waves bounce off a blank wall. The wall does nothing. In fact the less the wall has on it, the more plain and unadorned it is, the better the echo will be.
You could even bend the wall into a sort of curved shape. That improvement will be able to focus the sound waves and project echos for a long distance. All it takes is for that one person to quietly utter a few words, and have them heard for huge distances.
If you put two blank wals near each other and shout while standing between them, the sound waves will bounce back and forth, the echos will resonate for a few seconds.
In days before intercoms and PA systems, large buildings and ships used to use a talking tube. The inner walls of the tube act like the facing blank walls, echoing, confining and directing the sound waves to the other end of the tube.
Just like the walls, the tube doesn’t produce the sound. it does it’s best work when the surface that bounces the noise remains clean and smooth. The smoother it is, the better it can sustain those sound waves.
As a branch in the vine, we are like those walls. We do our best work by doing as little as possible. All that is required is to stay attached and let God work through the system that he has put into place.
What a concept. A good plan that comes together. The key is to abide. More on being a true disciple tomorrow.
For now, just focus on being that clean, smooth wall, and let the power of the Holy Spirit reflect off you.