LIGHTHOUSE DAILY DEVOTION
(Sent daily except Sunday)
(Some of the Devotions are original, some are adapted)
June 22, 2020
WE ARE NOTHING WITHOUT CHRIST
John 15:5 – “I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.”
Even in modern mathematics the cipher 0, unrelated to any other number and standing by itself means nothing.
It may be used to fill up and empty space. We sing at times, “O to be nothing.” Really, we are already this by nature. Paul said, “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing” (Romans 7:18). A zero! And as a Christian, we have nothing to offer the Lord Jesus in ourselves. There is no service that we can possibly render that would acceptably benefit our Father.
The cipher must be related to other numerals; then what marvelous results amass as a result! This is what occurs in the life of every child of God. “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me” (Phil. 4:13). Of what value or use is the branch if the life and vitality of the vine is not flowing through it?
Someone told me about a Christian who arose in a public testimony service to say, “Pray for me that I shall be nothing.” A minister who was a friend of his, though recognizing his sincerity, replied aloud, “Take it by faith, brother, you ARE nothing.”
But nothing, if it is united to the One who is life and victory and sufficiency, results in the “…fulness of him that filleth all in all” Eph. 1:23. It is for this that the apostle prays, “…that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God” (Eph. 3:19).
Most of us recognize the “cipher” dimension of our own lives. May God enable us to see beyond this to the tremendous possibilities of the zero of our nothingness linked with the oneness of His omnipotence, His resurrection life, and His victory.
Nothing am I, I make my boast in Him who died for me;
He gives my life its worth and power that I may useful be.
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Wit and Wisdom – When Christ is put first in the believer’s life, his worth and witness takes on new meaning.
Point to Ponder - A veteran is someone who, at one point in their life, wrote a blank check made payable to The United States of America for an amount up to and including their life.
