Today I would like to share a small section of writing with you from the book Absolute Surrender written in 1895 by Andrew Murray. He shares these thoughts based upon John 15:5, which says this: "I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing."
He says this:
"The Christian life is a life of absolute dependence. At Hampton Court there was a vine that sometimes bore a couple thousand clusters of grapes. People were amazed at its productivity. later the secret was discovered. Not too far from Hampton Court flows the River Thames. The had stretched its roots hundreds of yards under the ground until it came to the riverbed. There, in all the nutrients of the river bottom, it found rich nourishment and moisture. The roots drew the sap all that distance to the branches.
The vine had the work to do. The branches simply had to depend upon the vine and receive what it gave.
That is exactly what Christ desires you to understand. Christ desires that in all your work, the very foundation should be the simple acceptance that Christ must care for all.
As you depend on Him He supplies your needs by sending down the Holy Spirit. Jesus wants you to be dependent as you serve Him. Day by day, hour by hour, in everything you do, simply abide before Him. Live in total helplessness of one who can do nothing.
Absolute dependence upon God is the secret of power in work. You and I have nothing unless we receive it from Jesus."
That's good stuff, Justin. I recall the book, but not the story. Thanks for writing and passing on older treasures to a younger generation.
ReplyDeleteWade, am I ever glad you said something about not recalling the story. It made me go back and check myself and the reality is that section that I quoted is actually a portion of another writing called "Ye Are the Branches" which is a part of a number of different writings that I downloaded on my iPod. I was confused because the title of the writings I downloaded is called "Absolute Surrender" and I thought they were all part of the same writing. So, thank you for sending my mind on the right track. I would not desire to lead anyone astray, even in a matter such as this.
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