word might more accurately be rendered), we shall '_become_ His
disciples.' The end of our discipleship is never reached on earth: we
never so much _are_ as we are in the process of _becoming_, His true
followers and servants.

If we bear fruit because we are knit to Him, the fruit itself will
help us to get nearer Him, and so to be more His disciples and more
fruitful. Character produces conduct, but conduct rests on character,
and strengthens the impulses from which it springs. And thus our
action as Christian men and women will tell upon our inward lives as
Christians, and the more our outward conduct is conformed to the
pattern of Jesus Christ, the more shall we love Him in our inmost
hearts. We ourselves shall eat of the fruit which we ourselves have
borne to Him.

The alternatives are before us--in Christ, living and fruitful; out
of Christ, barren, and destined to be burned. As the prophet says,
'Will men take of the wood of the vine for any work?' Vine-wood is
worthless, its only use is to bear fruit; and if it does not do that,
there is only one thing to be done with it, and that is, 'They cast
it into the fire, and it is burned.'



ABIDING IN LOVE

'As the Father hath loved Me, so have I loved you: continue ye In
My love. If ye keep My commandments, ye shall abide in My love;
even as I have kept My Father's commandments, and abide in His
love. These things have I spoken unto you, that My joy might