Welcome to this Tuesday edition of the Our Daily Bread Devotional.

I'm Mike Whitmer, and I titled today's reading, A True Disciple of Jesus.

When Christian Mustad showed his Van Gogh landscape to art collector Auguste Pellerin,

Pellarin took one look and said, it wasn't authentic.

Mustad hid the painting into his attic, where it remained for 50 years.

Mustad died, and the painting was evaluated off and on over the next four decades.

Each time, it was determined to be a fake.

Until 2012, when an expert used a computer to count the thread separations in the painting's

canvas, he discovered it had been cut from the same canvas as another work of Van Gogh.

Moussat had owned a real Van Gogh all along.

Do you feel like a fake?

Do you fear that if people examined you,

they'd see how little you pray, give, and serve?

Are you tempted to hide in the attic,

away from prying eyes?

Look deeper. Beneath the colors and contours of your life.

If you've turned from your own ways and put your faith in Jesus, then you and he belong to the same canvas.

To use Jesus' picture in John 15, I am the vine, you are the branches. Jesus and you

form a seamless whole. Resting in Jesus makes you a true disciple of his. It's also the only way to

improve your picture. He said, if you remain in me and I in you, you will bear

much fruit. Apart from me, you can do nothing. Today's Our Daily Bread Devotional

Scripture reading is from John 15, verses 1 through 8.

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