Dear Friends,Morning and Evening

"Son of man, What is the vine tree more than any tree, or than a branch which is among the trees of the forest?"
— Ezekiel 15:2

These words are for the humbling of God’s people; they are called God’s vine, but what are they by nature more than others? They, by God’s goodness, have become fruitful, having been planted in a good soil; the Lord has trained them upon the walls of the sanctuary, and they bring forth fruit to His glory; but what are they without their God? What are they without the continual influence of the Spirit, who produces fruitfulness in them? O believer, learn to reject pride, seeing that you have no ground for it. Whatever you are, you have nothing to make you proud. The more you have, the more you are in debt to God; and you should not be proud of that which renders you a debtor. Consider your origin; look back to what you were when Jesus found you. Consider what you would have become without His amazing grace. Look upon yourself as you are now. Does not your conscience offend you? Does not your constant wanderings stand before you, and tell you that you are unworthy in your own strength to be called His child? And if He has made you anything, are you not taught then that it is grace which has made you set apart? Great believer, you would have been a great sinner if God had not chosen you. O you who are valiant for truth, you would have been as valiant for error if grace had not laid hold upon your life. Therefore, be not proud, as though you have a large estate—a wide domain of grace, you have not once a single thing to call your own except your sin and misery. Oh! strange infatuation, that you, who has borrowed everything, should think of exalting yourself; a poor soul ever dependent on the bounty of your Savior. Oh the emptiness of one who has a life which dies without fresh streams of life from Jesus, and yet is proud of their mortality!