Making A Decision For Christ

# 623 - Today's Du-votional comes from: Mr 12:1 Then He began to speak to them in parables: "A man planted a vineyard and set a hedge around it, dug a place for the wine vat and built a tower. And he leased it to vinedressers and went into a far country.

Time does not permit us to tackle the entire parable in one day, so let's attempt to break it up into several pieces.

First of all, Jesus is speaking this parable directly to the spiritual leaders of Israel, the Old Testament church. If you recall, they had just refused to acknowledge that He was sent from God, this parable will put that argument to rest, and it contains a stern warning to these rulers and any and all people who reject Jesus.

The “man” who planted this vineyard was none other than God the Father. Notice that it is He who did the planting. It is he who establishes His vineyard, His church. It is planted with the God-given gift of faith. This is the first lesson of this parable for you and I.

Faith is a gift of God. If we make a “decision for Christ,” it is only because God gave us the necessary faith. It was He who planted the seed of faith in our hearts. When Peter made his confession of faith that Jesus was the Christ the Son of the living God. Jesus immediately said, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.” (Mt 16:17)

Father we praise and give You thanks for every decision made for Christ, but let us never forget that this decision flows from Your grace through the gift of faith.