November 6 The Sweet Harvest – Isaiah 5：1-7

When we put in effort in our work and the result was not quite our expectation. We felt dejected. The frustration we felt about working painstakingly and only to get a bitter harvest, echoes the tone of Isaiah 5. Here we read a story of God’s relationship to the nation of Israel. Pictured God as a farmer, (Isaiah 5:1-2) “I will sing for the one I love a song about his vineyard: My loved one had a vineyard on a fertile hillside. He dug it up and cleared it of stones and planted it with the choicest vines. He built a watchtower in it and cut out a winepress as well. Then he looked for a crop of good grapes, but it yielded only bad fruit.”  To the farmer’s dismay, the vineyard, representing Israel, produced sour-tasting grapes of selfishness, injustice, and oppression. Eventually, God reluctantly destroyed the vineyard while saving a remnant of vines that someday would produce a good harvest. In the gospel of John, Jesus revisits the vineyard illustration, (John 15:5) “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

”In this parallel imagery, Jesus pictures us in Him as grapevine branches connected to Him, the main vine. Now, as we remain connected to Jesus through prayerful reliance on His Spirit, we have direct access to the spiritual nourishment that will produce the sweetest fruit of all, love.

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February 28, 2021 New Every Morning – Lamentations 3：19-26

In certain stages of our lives, we experienced some severe forms of affliction and tormenting. It was beyond our control with one’s finances and human abilities. We could not imagine how bleak in the future and the situation was hopeless. At that moment, we cried out...

February 27, 2021 No Longer Yourself – Galatians 2：14-21

Before I was baptized to become a Christian, it was hard to believe what in the bible said and then I began to walk with God. All these were incredible and I wouldn’t believe I could do as the bible demands. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has...

February 26, 2021 Facing Fear – Psalms 56：3-11

When someone made up some story of false accusation or slander against us, how would you handle this kind of situation. It is quite common in a political campaign or an election. This really made our life upside down and distressful. The only solution is to clarify...

February 25, 2021 To Be Human – Philippians 4：6-8

There is an old Chinese adage: A real man sheds blood but not tears. That implies if one cries to show that he is weak. So when we were young as a boy, we tried not to cry for any reasons. But when I grew older I learned from books saying that crying was a sign to...

February 24, 2021 Never Alone – Ecclesiastes 4：8-12

Loneliness is an all-time high afflicted disease of all ages, social or economic status. Particularly in our digital era and pandemic plague, there are alarming rates of increasing loneliness in our society. And in the long term, the symptoms will become depression....