Daily Devotion

“Timothy Lin was born in 1911 into the family of an Anglican pastor in Zhejiang and was born again at nineteen. Studying theology in Nanjing, he protested when the seminary used the "historical critical method" to deny the Bible, and left in 1934. During the war with Japan he ran the Bethel orphanage in Shanghai; when he was leading the students to flee a Japanese attack, his wife and daughter were killed by gunfire and he himself broke his neck, yet his faith in God never changed. He later taught at several seminaries in the United States, served as one of the Old Testament translators of the New American Standard Bible, and was president of China Evangelical Seminary in Taipei from 1980 to 1991.”

WellsOfGrace.com · "Rev. Timothy Lin," biographical sketch, WellsOfGrace.com

Scripture

John 15:4-5 Remain in me, and I in you. As a branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

Reflection

Busyness in ministry is a gift, yet it can easily lead us into "working for God" while forgetting to "be with God." The Lord Jesus said, "Apart from Me you can do nothing." A branch bears fruit not by its own effort but by abiding in the vine. Timothy Lin passed through war and the loss of his wife and daughter, yet held fast to his faith and served faithfully in the pulpit, the classroom and the work of Bible translation. Today, let us first draw near to the Lord in secret and be filled with His word, so that wherever we serve, what flows out of us is the life that comes from Christ, not merely words and skill.