Ezekiel

August 3

Ezekiel 15:1-5

Dead wood

One day, the Lord asked Ezekiel, “What use is the wood of a dead vine? It can’t be used to carve something useful, and it doesn’t even make good firewood! Trees of the forest are much better for that.

When the wood is used for firewood and becomes charred, it is even more useless than before.

Just as a vine that does not bear fruit is cut up and burned, so I will remove Jerusalem and punish the people because they have chosen to be unfaithful to Me. I will turn their country into a desert.”

Am I bearing fruit?

We face many choices every day. Some choices are important, and some are not. Some choices can be made for us; others can only be made by us. Some decisions can be changed, while others cannot.

God’s people had made their choice—and it was an important one. Unfortunately, it was the wrong choice. They had chosen to be unfaithful to God. They had not simply slipped up in a moment of weakness or temptation; they were stubbornly holding on to a sinful way of life. They had chosen to worship idols, and their hearts were filled with greed instead of love for God.

A vine is not grown for its wood like a tree in the forest. It is grown to produce fruit year after year and be a blessing to many. A tree, however, may eventually be cut down for its wood.

Jesus said that God is the Gardener who cuts off every branch that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit He prunes so that it will become even more fruitful (John 15:2). We have been chosen to bear fruit—not to end up as firewood!

Verse for today

You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last… John 15:16