THE BEST PROPOSAL

I'm joining up with other writers from Five Minute Friday and today's prompt word is PROPOSE.   

My immediate thoughts on the word propose were marriage, which I guess is something most people would think of.

But it also reminded me of the word invitation, because a proposal is an invitation - an invitation to live with a person, to do life with them, to share intimate moments with them, to share dreams and goals and days and weeks and months and years, to share offspring with them, to produce something together.   

Lately the Lord has been speaking to me about that word 'invitation', and I've been pondering it in the context of John 15.   Many of the sermons in our church lately have mentioned John 15, whether in passing, or in depth.   

And the Lord has been speaking to me about it a lot.  

So I propose to share just a few thoughts on it, as God has shown them to me lately and perhaps it will clarify them for me as well. 

You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.   

“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.    If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.   If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.   Jn 15:3-8

No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.    You did not choose Me, but I chose you.  Jn 15:15-16  

I'm jumping all over the place in John chapter 15, not to take Scripture out of context, but to show the relevance to the word propose.

Verse 16:  You did not choose Me, but I chose you

We are chosen by God, and invited by Him into relationship.    He made the first move, He proposed before we knew we needed it.   He pursued us before we knew we needed it.   That's what someone does before they propose - they pursue.   

The Lord has appeared of old to me, saying:

“Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love;

Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.  Jer 31:3  

verse 4:   Abide in Me, and I in you.  

Sounds like an invitation to live with and in, to dwell, to stay, to make our home - with Him.  What a beautiful proposal that is!   

verse 7:   If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. 

He certainly seems to be offering us a very close relationship, one where our desires are known and met.  Of course, if we are abiding in Him, close to His heart, our desires are no longer selfish, but caught up in His.  

verse 15:  No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing;   but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you. 

The invitation to be Jesus' friend, not just His servant, just blows me away.   It reminds me of Martha and Mary.  They both loved Jesus.  Martha went out of her way to show Him and His entourage hospitality, by offering Him an invitation to her home.  It was no small thing that she did.   But Mary chose the greater thing, she responded to HIS invitation to abide, to sit, to dwell, to be, to know and be known. 

And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things.  But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.”  Luke 10: 41-42   

I propose we respond to His invitation to be, to abide, to dwell, to sit and His feet, to hear His heart, to choose the greater thing, because it will not be taken away from us.  

And out of that abiding will come intimacy and fruit, and isn't that the best proposal of all?  

Jesus, lover of my soul

Jesus, I will never let You go

You've taken me from the miry clay

You've set my feet upon the rock

And now I know

I love you (I love you)

I need you (I need you)

Though my world may fall (though my world may fall)

I'll never let You go

My Saviour (my Saviour)

My closest Friend

I will worship You (I will worship You until the very end)