John 15:16 “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit – fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name.”

There are mysteries we will never know this side of heaven, and the full basis for God’s choosing is one of them. From His choosing Abram to His choosing us, we really don’t know why. However, we can be grateful! Being chosen is not a basis for pride or presumption, but for humble submission and obedience. It is interesting how some people seem to hate that word, submission. Just yesterday I read a news article about a happy, successful woman who has recently published a book in which she mentions being in submission to her husband. You would think she had talked about cannibalism or something, from the reactions from some quarters! That makes it clear who is a child of whom, because it was Lucifer’s lack of submission, his desire to have God’s glory for himself, that got him thrown out of heaven, transformed from heaven’s choir director to the devil. (Isaiah 14:12-15) It’s important here to realize the purpose for our being chosen and commissioned, and that is to bear fruit. We can’t do it without being firmly connected to Christ, as He makes clear in the first part of this chapter, but our commission is to bear fruit. Once we are so connected to Him that we bear lasting fruit, then we have carte blanch with the Father, and are able to ask Him for anything at all. The trick to that is, if we go asking for purely selfish things, that’s proof we aren’t properly connected to Christ! However, for those who are genuinely committed to Him, this verse is comforting assurance that the fruit we bear will indeed last. Sometimes we can’t properly evaluate someone until after they are gone. With some people, the seemingly towering edifice they erected in their life essentially evaporates, but with others, those in whom they have invested continue to bear fruit in expanding circles. We aren’t to run around comparing ourselves to others, but we are to seek to be firmly, totally, grounded in Christ, so that our fruit will be lasting indeed.

I am the fruit of past generations who loved and served God, so that gives me hope for my fruit as well. I read recently that the biggest impact we have on the world is our children, but in the Family of God, that applies to spiritual children as well. Billy Graham’s legacy, even more than the millions who responded in his crusades, is his spiritual children, some of whom happen to be his physical children as well. There are many who serve God with their whole hearts because of Billy, and they are raising up more to do likewise. That is indeed fruit that will last. I am certainly not Billy Graham, but there are those who love and serve God because of what they have seen in me, and I am deeply grateful. I am to keep investing in my spiritual children, even while acquiring more, so that they in turn may do the same with others. At this point my desires are mostly for spiritual breakthrough, for a tsunami of God’s love and grace to hit this nation, this world. My fruit is in God’s hands, for His glory.

Father, thank You for choosing me in Christ. May I indeed fulfill every purpose for which You chose me, though I know only a fraction of those purposes. May I be an accurate representation of Christ to all I encounter, turning their eyes and hearts to Him, for their salvation and His glory. Thank You. Praise God!