Boasting

Wow, it has been TOO long since my last post. My apologies to anyone who might actually be reading this.
I promised last time that I would write about boasting, so here goes:

Let me start by saying that my grandfather owned an empty lot near his house in Florida. In this lot he had several citrus trees and a trellis with grape vines. I'm not entirely sure why it is that you don't grow grapes on fruit trees--he tried to explain it to me once, but I was too young to get it. Something about the grape vines taking away from the fruit trees, so that you wind up with either no fruit or much smaller fruit (I think). What I KNOW is that it isn't done.

John 15:1-6 says: "I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.
2Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit.
3Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.
4Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.
5I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
6If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. "

Verse 4 seems to be the one that nobody pays attention to. The branch cannot bear fruit of itself, because Jesus wasn't talking about the branch of a fruit tree. Obviously, the branch of, say, a pear tree, can bear fruit of itself. The point is, that if you want grapes on your tree, you have to let the grape vine grow on that tree, and, even then, it isn't the tree that's growing the fruit, it is the vine. Jesus says that He is the vine, and we are the branches. If we abide in Him, we can get a lot of work done, but without Him, we can do nothing.

Now, Ephesians 2:8-10 tells us: "8For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
9Not of works, lest any man should boast.
10For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. "
and in Isaiah 64:6 it says: "But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away."

It makes it clear that we have no right to boast about anything that we have done, because if there was any good in it at all, then it wasn't really us that did it anyway, it was Christ working through us.

2 Corinthians 4:7 says: "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. " Meaning that man, being formed from the dust of the earth, is a vessel for the Almighty. When we get ourselves out of the way, and let Him do His work through us, then we, and those around us, are much better off.

Also, some people try to base their salvation upon their works, but in Matthew 7:19-23, Jesus said, "Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
20Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.
21Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
22Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
23And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. "
Wait a minute: Prophecy is iniquity? Casting out devils is iniquity? What did these people call 'wonderful works' that Jesus calls iniquity? But the point is, they themselves were deceived when they did whatever it was that they did. They thought that they were abiding in Christ, but they weren't. They thought they were doing what God would have them to do, but they weren't. The problem with deception is that when you're deceived, you don't know that you're deceived, because you're deceived. I'm not sure what these people actually did, but they obviously really believed that they were in God's will; it would be pretty foolish to look Jesus in the face and try to convince Him that you had done something that He wanted you to do if you knew that He hadn't wanted you to do it. But here these people are, arguing with Jesus about His will.
The point here, is that you need to to take heed that what you are doing is of God. Allow yourself to be led of God every moment of every day. God knows what's best. A tall order? You bet. Realistically, none of us can actually do it. Just do the absolute best that you can, and pray that God will bless your efforts--make up the gap. If you're getting good things done, great; but don't trust in that to get you into Heaven. On the other hand, if you aren't getting good things done, then why not? are you sure that you are abiding in Christ? Take another look at what the Bible says in John 15:6: "If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. "
I want to HEAR "Well done" at the end of this life, I don't want to BE well done.