MORNING MANNA 3- 24 -24
GOD’S TOOLS
“ I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.” John 15:5
Although the illustration below is different then the text above the point is the same – we are helpless without God.
Samuel Brengle who was an early Salvation Army official was once introduced as the, “Great Dr. Brengle.” He later wrote in his diary, “If I appear great in their eyes, the Lord is most graciously helping me to see how absolutely nothing I am without Him, and helping me to keep little in my own eyes. He does use me. But I am so concerned that He uses me and that it is not of me the work is done. The axe cannot boast of the trees it has cut down. It could do nothing but for the woodsman. He made it, he sharpened it, and he used it. The moment he throws it aside, it becomes only old iron. O, that I may never lose sight of this.”
Amen to that! Far too often people take credit and even boast about the things they’ve done when it was God who enabled them to do it. Their pride not only robs them of a reward it also ruins relationships, and results in the failure to live a life well lived. It is a great privilege to be used of the Lord, but we must remember that we are able only because we are enabled. Thank God we are or else we would all be doomed to a life of miserable existence rather than doing something of eternal value. Thankfully God can give you something worth living for and pays eternal dividends.
If you feel like a miserable failure or an empty vessel of no use, commit yourself entirely to God and He will transform you. As Paul said,” If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work.”2 Tim.2:21- HDS
David Stone
Lakeway Baptist Church
Humble,Tx