ELECTION
Ye Did Not Choose Me, But I Chose You, and Appointed You That Ye Should Go
and Bear Fruit--John 15:16
The branch does not choose the vine, or decide on
which vine it will grow. The vine brings forth the branch, as and where it
will. Even so Christ says: "Ye did not choose me, but I chose you." But some
will say is not just this the difference between the branch in the natural and
in the spiritual world, that man has a will and a power of choosing, and that
it is in virtue of his having decided to accept Christ, his having chosen Him
as Lord, that he is now a branch? This is undoubtedly true. And yet it is only
half a truth. The lesson of the Vine, and the teaching of our Lord, points to
the other half, the deeper, the divine side of our being in Christ. If He had
not chosen us, we had never chosen Him. Our choosing Him was the result of His
choosing us, and taking hold of us. In the very nature of things, it is His
prerogative as Vine to choose and create His own branch. We owe all we are to
"the election of grace." If we want to know Christ as the true Vine, the sole
origin and strength of the branch life, and ourselves as branches in our
absolute, most blessed, and most secure dependence upon Him, let us drink deep
of this blessed truth: "Ye did not choose me, but I chose you."
And with what view does Christ say this? That
they may know what the object is for which He chose them, and find, in their
faith in His election, the certainty of fulfilling their destiny. Throughout
Scripture this is the great object of the teaching of election. "Predestinated
to be conformed to the image of his son." (to be branches in the image and
likeness of the Vine). "Chosen that we should be holy." "Chosen to salvation,
through sanctification of the Spirit." "Elect in sanctification of the Spirit
unto obedience." Some have abused the doctrine of election, and others, for
fear of its abuse, have rejected it, because they have overlooked this
teaching. They have occupied themselves with its hidden origin in eternity,
with the inscrutable mysteries of the counsels of God instead of accepting the
revelation of its purpose in time, and the blessings it brings into our
Christian life.
Just think what these blessings are. In our verse
Christ reveals His twofold purpose in choosing us to be His branches: that we
may bear fruit on earth, and have power in prayer in Heaven. What confidence
the thought that He has chosen us for this gives, that He will not fail to fit
us for carrying out His purpose! What assurance that we can bear fruit that
will abide, and can pray so as to obtain! What a continual call to the deepest
humility and praise, to the most entire dependence and expectancy! He would not
choose us for what we are not fit for, or what He could not fit us for. He has
chosen us; this is the pledge, He will do all in us.
Let us listen in silence of soul to our holy Vine
speaking to each of us: "You did not choose Me!" And let us say, "Yea, Lord,
but I chose You! Amen, Lord!" Ask Him to show what this means. In Him, the true
Vine, your life as branch has its divine origin, its eternal security, and the
power to fulfill His purpose. From Him to whose will of love you owe all, you
may expect all. In Him, His purpose, and His power, and His faithfulness, in
His love let me abide.
I chose you. Lord, teach me what this
means--that Thou hast set Thy heart on me, and chosen me to bear fruit that
will abide, and to pray prayer that will prevail. In this Thine eternal purpose
my soul would rest itself and say: "What He chose me for I will be, I can be, I
shall be."