Choice

"I'll now sing a love song for my beloved," Isaiah 5:1.

Actually, it's a song about his first vineyard: My beloved worked backbreakingly hard to prep land on a hillside with excellent gradient and sunshine. He terraced and cleared the field of its stones. He planted choice grapevines. Too, he built a fine watchtower right in the middle of it all. Yeah, and, he even cut out a wine-press on the property. At harvest, finally, he expected very fine grapes. (But all he got was a sour crop. What more could he have done? What will he do with this worthless vineyard?) Jesus speaks, now, of a second vineyard: God, the gardener. Jesus himself, the vine. And his people, its fruit-bearing branches. Jesus' people connecting vitally with him bear lots of good fruit. That great expectation guides God's cuttings.

We meet with a brother or sister today happy in God's discipline to train us for his purposes. And, giving thanks together, we yield the peaceful fruit of his righteousness.