10/01/2023 - IS THERE SOMETHING MISSING ON GOD’S PART?

• 
• 
• 
• 

What more could have been done to My vineyard that I have not done in it? Why then, when I expected it to bring forth good grapes, did it bring forth wild grapes?                                                                                                   Isaiah 5.4

According to the Lord, who is the Truth, everything was done for His vineyard to be what He had planned. But instead of producing good fruit, good grapes (holiness and other virtues that glorify God), it produced bad fruit, bad grapes (all kinds of sin, that shame Him). Unfortunately, we have not thought about what to do by being with Him in the accomplishment of His blessed work, and we have let the devil turn us into bad servants.

The good grapes are the accomplishments that He expects from us. He has sown in our hearts the good seeds, which will enable us to live like Jesus in the midst of sinners. The Lord wants us to be holy, because He is holy, and also good ministers of the New Testament. However, we have done the same as those who sinned under the Law. Grace is the perfect law of liberty – morally, physically and financially (2 Corinthians 3.4-6). Honor Him!

Wild grapes are produced in a deceitful heart, which has room for sensuality, dishonesty and other bad things that the devil leads man to accept (Ephesians 5.3-7). As long as you are not holy, you will never be used as you would like. We observe this in those who delude themselves with secret feelings toward man. These are not for the Lord, who sees everything. By accepting Jesus as your Savior, you have become a new creation. Wake up!

Every saved person has the potential to be a representative of the Creator, who has only goodness in His essence. However, irresponsibly, many live as the devil wishes, coveting that which is worthless. Later, when they are attacked by evil, they have the courage to tell the Lord that they don’t understand His way of acting, because He didn’t protect them (James 4.1-10). You have to stop being a Pharisee and really become a servant of the Most High; otherwise, how can you judge angels (1 Corinthians 6.3)?

The judgment of what we do in the open, or in secret, will reveal the good or the evil that we do: For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment (James 2.13). How should we deal with this? Confess to the Lord what your life is like, and ask Him to be merciful to you, in order to change it for the better. He will give you the conditions to be used today.

God expects you to give good grapes. As a representative of the Kingdom of Heaven, it is impossible for the Lord not to judge you if you act against the divine rules. Therefore, see what fruit you have produced and, once renouncing Pharisaism and other practices of the flesh, live according to the model presented in the Holy Word. It is fruitful to be the person that the Father has planned. You will learn all this by meditating on the biblical writings (Psalm 119.9).

Take advantage of what the Lord teaches in the verse we have studied. Never forget that the gift of holiness – the essence of the Savior – has been placed in every Christian. The devil cannot oppress the one who has become a new creation, because the old things have passed away (2 Corinthians 5.17). Now, if you decide to enjoy what comes from holiness, you will produce the good grapes.

In Christ, with love,

R. R. Soares