Ezekiel 15:2 Son of man, What is the vine tree more than any tree, or than a branch which is among the trees of the forest
Have you ever thought you were something that you were not? Have you ever thought you had something that you did not have? For instance, I remember when I was thirteen years old, I wanted a pair of all-leather white tennis shoes much like casual sneakers today. I really wanted them. I didn’t end up getting name brand all-leather tennis shoes, but it was a step. I was so proud of my all-leather tennis shoes. Then, about four months later I began to realize that they were not all leather. They were about fifty percent leather and fifty percent plastic, and as time went on that became more and more evident.
Have you ever thought you had something that you did not have or thought you were something that you were not? God is speaking to His people Israel in Ezekiel 15, and He says in verse 2, “Son of man, What is the vine tree more than any tree, or than a branch which is among the trees of the forest?” He goes on to say, “Shall wood be taken thereof to do any work?” Can you take any wood from a vine and build, produce, or make something useful of it? No! The only utility a vine has is to produce fruit.
In Ezekiel 15:3-5 God goes on the talk about “any work” and “no work” and the fact that His people, both sides of the divided kingdom, were His precious people. They were a vine. They were to produce fruit. There was no intrinsic value there. God didn’t love them because they were valuable; they were valuable because of God’s love for them.
In verse 4 He goes on to talk about the fact that they were just fuel for the fire. That is what happened when the enemies approached and burned down so much that was precious. You see, it is easy to mistake our blessings for our virtues. How do we do that? Well, pride is the easy answer. God’s people had the temple and that was an amazing blessing that they took for a virtue. They thought themselves virtuous because they had the temple. No, it was a blessing, not a virtue. These people had incredible knowledge. They knew things that most people of the world did not know. The world did not have God’s law, but God’s people did. So, that was not virtue on their part; it was a blessing that God had given.
When we belong to God and we have gifts, talents, advantages, and other things, it is easy to think, “Wow, I am a virtuous person.” That is a mistake. We are a blessed people. Entitlement is the idea that I deserve something or that life is not fair because someone else has something I don’t have. It is comparing oneself to others. That is always a danger.
It is important that we identify with God Himself and not just with the blessings He gives. Sometimes we identify with some talent we have, and then what are we when we lose that talent? Nothing? Are we just chopped liver? Think of someone who has a great voice and then can no longer sing, someone who can preach and then becomes so old that he cannot preach as he once did, or someone who could administrate but can no longer administrate the way they once did. Are they worth nothing?
I need to begin early and young to identify not just with the blessings God gives, but with God Himself because our greatest utility is the fruit we bear when we live in submission to God. Today, it is important to recognize our blessings and our weaknesses and not mistake our blessings for virtues.