Psalm 1 ESV
1:1 Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
1:2 But, his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on His law he meditates day and night.
1:3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.
1:4 The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away.
1:5 Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
John 15:1-17 ESV
15:1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser.
15:2 Every branch of mine that does not bear fruit e takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.
15:3 Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you.
15:4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.
15:5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whosoever aides in me and I in him, he is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
15:6 If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, and thrown into the fire, and burned.
15:7 IF you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will b done for you.
15:8 By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciple.
15:9 As the Father has loved m, so have I loved you. Abide in my love.
15:10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.
15:11 These things I have spoken to you , that my joy may be n you, and that your joy may be full.
15:12 This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
15:13 Greater loe has no one than this, that someone lays down his live for his friends.
15:14 You are my friends if you do what I command you.
15:15 No longer do I cll 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.
15:16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give to you.
15:17 These things I command you, so that you will love one another.”
The passages quoted above struck me. The theme of the two passages seems obviously similar and yet within the second passage we see the root, the completion, and the result of the first. The things mentioned in these passages are not possible apart from God, but it is God through Christ that makes these things possible. For it is God that chose us, it is God who chose us, it is Christ who made us righteous, and it is through Christ by means of the Spirit that we bear fruit so that we remain in Him because He is in us.
By means of a couple conversations I have had in recent days with people who I know care a great deal for me I was convicted that I had not read scripture as much as I should have been. With the lack of reading and meditation came anxiousness, frustration, and worry. Things that I had prayed for and prepared for for a long time where coming to be because of my dedication and preparation for them. But, it seems as though once I was blessed with the answer to prayers I set aside the prayer and meditation on such things, forgetting that in fact the prayer and meditation had only begun and that God's gift to me was only the beginning of what He has in store for me. The passages above have seemed to speak to what I was feeling and lacking.
