The process of being "Juiced for Jesus"....

So, I should be home schooling my kids right now, but my morning reading just slapped me upside the head and I feel I need to write this out *right now*. (The older kids are doing their Bible study, so all is not truly lost. Yet.)

My daily reading from "My Utmost For His Highest" by Oswald Chambers was titled "A Life of Pure and Holy Sacrifice". And here are some quotes that struck me, and that I will refer to later in the post.
     
   "Jesus did not sat say, "He who believes in Me will realize all the blessings of the fullness of God, " but, in essence, "He who believes in Me will have everything he receives escape out of him." 
"His purpose is not the development of a person— His purpose is to make a person exactly like Himself, and the Son of God is characterized by self-expenditure. If we believe in Jesus, it is not what we gain but what He pours through us that really counts. God’s purpose is not simply to make us beautiful, plump grapes, but to make us grapes so that He may squeeze the sweetness out of us. "


Um, ouch. I have heard about producing fruit all my life, but never, ever thought about the *purpose* of that fruit this way. Fruit- what IS IT'S purpose in everyday life? We consume it. We squeeze it and bleed it dry and then discard the empty, now useless carcass. Then, if we want more of that sweet juice or fruity flesh, we must GROW MORE. We can't go back to that pile of used up grapes over there in the trash. We have to grow more to have more to ONCE AGAIN use up. Ok.....spiritual parallels LIGHT BULB moment here. 
So the growing of my spiritual fruit in my life, is for it to be USED up. And REGROWN. A one-time growing is not going to cut it, y'all. And when I think about how those poor little grapes and oranges must feel like when they are juiced, (supposing they actually had feelings, just go with me here a minute...) it CANNOT be comfortable. They are squeezed and smashed and all the life just runs right out of that fruit. That is what our service is like often, right? It is often uncomfortable. It requires SACRIFICE, and often leaves us feeling spent as well. So, here's the deal- THAT IS OK! I think that is how we are supposed to feel so that we GO BACK to Jesus who IS THE VINE so we can be nourished once again and GROW MORE FRUIT! 
 Click HERE to read the whole post from "My Utmost For His Highest".


So, it's time to get squeezed. And home schooling usually does the trick, so here I go.