“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.”
The Few
Jesus names the actual direction of this choosing directly, ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, worth holding against however much your own sense of discipleship has felt like something you initiated, your own achievement, rather than this verse’s actual claim, his prior choosing, before your own response.
Notice that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain, purpose named directly alongside this choosing, not chosen merely for private relationship alone, but for fruit, and specifically fruit that remains, lasting rather than temporary, worth holding as this whole book’s actual aim.
This is worth applying to whoever you are discipling as well. They did not choose this relationship into being through their own sufficient effort. You chose them, deliberately, the way Christ chose you, and this same fruit that remains is the actual, intended outcome of that choosing.
Consider today both directions of this verse, receiving afresh that you were chosen, not merely choosing, and considering whoever you have chosen to invest in, whether that choosing is aimed, deliberately, at fruit that remains, not merely temporary connection or activity.
Pour Into the Few
- Receive today that you were chosen first, not merely choosing discipleship through your own effort.
- Consider whoever you are discipling, and whether you have chosen them deliberately, as Christ chose you.
- Examine whether your investment is aimed at fruit that remains, not merely temporary activity.
Prayer
Lord, thank you that you chose me first. Let me choose others deliberately the same way, aimed at fruit that remains, not merely temporary connection or activity. Amen.
Carry this today
You were chosen first. Now choose others deliberately, aimed at fruit that remains.