Redemption in the Cross

John 15:2
" Any branch in Me that does not bear fruit He cuts away, and He cleanses and repeatdly prunes....."

Abide in Christ: so will you bear much fruit. Not a vine is planted but the owner thinks of the fruit, and the fruit only. Other trees may be planted for ornament, for the shade, for the wood - the vine only for the_ fruit. And of each vine the husbandman is continually asking how it can bring forth more fruit, much fruit. Believer! abide in Christ in times of affliction, and you shall bring forth more fruit. The deeper experience of Christ's tenderness and the Father's love will urge you to live to His glory. The surrender of self and selfwill in suffering will prepare you to sympathize with the misery of others, while the softening that comes of chastisement will fit you for becoming, as Jesus was, the servant of all. The thought of the Father's desire for fruit in the pruning will lead you to yield yourself afresh, and more than ever, to Him, and to say that now you have but one object in life - making known and conveying His wonderful love to fellow - men. You shall learn the blessed art of forgetting self, and, even in affliction, availing yourself of your separation from ordinary life to plead for the welfare of others. Dear Christian, in affliction abide in Christ. When you see it coming, meet it in Christ; when it is come, feel that you are more in Christ than in it, for He is nearer you than affliction ever can be; when it is passing, still abide in Him. And let the one thought of the Saviour, as He speaks of the pruning, and the one desire of the Father, as He does the pruning, be yours too: "Every branch that beareth fruit, He purgeth, that it may bring forth more fruit."

Andrew Murray


Gal 3:13
"Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us."

Believing in the full truth of the redemption of the cross gives us a boldness to rejoice in God. No matter what the circumstances of earthly life His Promises are the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. By dying to self daily, by putting down pride daily, by loving others as He loves us daily, by coming to the foot of the cross daily does life abundantly spring forth through us to others.