WE MUST NOW return to our verse: “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you” (John 15:16 KJV ).
This verse is my verse, given to me when I began my work as a missionary and evangelist. I have lived on that verse all these years. Just as I am about to speak to an audience, I ask them to bow their heads in silent prayer. Invariably I repeat this verse to Christ, reminding Him that I am not there by my choice, but by His. Having put me there, it is up to Him to see me through, to give me all the grace and power I need to be effective in that hour, that that hour should “bear fruit.” I straighten up with a sense of commission and backing, that all the divine resources I need are behind me.
I quoted that verse in a ministers’ meeting, saying it was my verse. A Presbyterian minister came up and said, “But that’s a Presbyterian verse—‘Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you.’” We were both wrong—it was not my verse as a minister, nor was it his verse as a Presbyterian. In both cases it would limit its scope to a class and a denomination. It belongs inherently to the Christian as such. Every Christian is chosen and ordained. Every Christian can stand with bowed head as he begins the daily task and can repeat that verse: “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit.” He can have a sense of divine backing and commission as he goes into any legitimate occupation. He is not in a second-rate calling, and hence he is no second-rate Christian. The full and unlimited power of Christ is behind him.
O Master, anyone in Thee is in Thy commission. Thy ordination, and is a disciple and an apostle. As such we can show apostolic authority and power to the limit of our obedience. Gratitude is the only word. I thank Thee. Amen.
AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: I am a commissioned servant of the kingdom—commissioned to represent the kingdom and to serve all in its name.
