Apart From Me You Can Do Nothing

A Dangerous Mindset. The operative pronoun is “I.”  We get caught up with ourselves.  We are focused on our own achievements.  We think we have accomplished so much.  We are led to believe that the more we accomplish, the more worthwhile we are, the better the person we are.  And we deserve to be noticed, and we ought to be congratulated, thanked, and rewarded.

Pause and Reconsider. Jesus made a stunning statement: “Apart from me you can do nothing” (Jn 15:5).

Every single one of our accomplishments is by the grace of God.  Jesus is the vine, the source of all of our talents and blessings.  We are only branches, not the vine.  The gifts flow through the vine to the branches, and these gifts are rich and varied:  loving parents and a good family; intelligence, the ability to concentrate, good teachers, good resources; good health, physical strength, coordination, motivation, opportunity, good coaches, good teammates; an outgoing personality, persuasiveness, a good product, a good manager; the availability of good ingredients, good recipes, good refrigeration, and ample time.  Yes, we may have achieved something, but whatever good we have may have done, if it had not been for what we had received through the vine, we would have produced no fruit at all.

To God Goes the Glory!  Our successes start with the vine, “It is God who … begets in you any measure of desire or achievement” (Phil 2:13, NAB 1970), and our successes end with the vine, “O Lord … it is you who have accomplished all we have done” (Is 26:12).  Jesus was absolutely correct when he stated,

“Apart from me you can do nothing,”

and if our accomplishments are because of blessings we have received through the vine from God, then to God goes the glory!

Source: www.the catholicspirit.com