In the vine ...

Hear the word of God:

"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

"I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

(John 15:1-8, NIV)

You are the vine, I am a branch

Life flows from the vine out through the branches. When Jesus calls himself the true vine, he describes our relationship with him as one of dependence. We cannot bear fruit without remaining connected to the vine. A branch by itself is nothing; the only thing to do is cut it off. A vine has a special connection with its branches, though. As long as the branches are connected to the vine, the vine sends out life to the branches

You are the vine, I am a branch

"Remain in me and I will remain in you," Jesus says, indicating the scope of that connection. The fullest realization of who Jesus is comes when we are so fully consumed and subsumed in him that we are unable to distinguish who we are apart from who he is. When we remain in Jesus and he remains in us, we know who he is at a gut-level. We have become so saturated with who he is that we know his identity deep down, in the pits of our stomachs.

You are the vine, I am a branch

This call means letting go of the pride and self-sufficiency that suffocate us. Holding to the true vine means acknowledging that he is the vine and we are branches. We cannot do anything on our own, so we must learn to abide in the vine. We cannot produce fruit without him, without the power that always flow from vine out to branches, never the other way around.

You are the vine, I am a branch

Our fruitfulness brings glory to God, and so he prunes us to make us even more fruitful. Here is yet another dimension of Jesus' metaphor - as branches, we are the agents of God's work in the world, the hands through which he touches the world. We are the fruit-bearers of the true vine, receiving life and power from the vine and bearing fruit that is visible to all. A vine does not simply bear fruit itself, it breathes life into its branches so that they can bear fruit.

You are the vine, I am a branch

Blessings,

Greg

The hum of fluorescent lights ...

“Solitude molds self-righteous people into gentle, caring, forgiving persons who are so deeply convinced of their own great sinfulness and so fully aware of God’s even greater mercy that their life itself becomes a ministry.” - Henri Nouwen

Waking up every morning and spending time in the Word, time in silence just staring at the steam coming up from my coffee cup, listening to nothing but the refrigerator motor and the hum of the fluorescent lights overhead has been a blessing. You are in that place where you really can feel God there with you. You can feel his presence, and almost hear his voice as you read his Word. You can feel yourself being molded and sharpened for another day.

Then you hear one of the kids wake up. You realize that it is time to go and get the boys up for school. There is a lot to be done before we walk out that door. You just don’t want to get up. You have had such a wonderful time of devotion with your God. You feel like you are changed and are growing, but you have life to live. You know that you are going to face boys who don’t want to wake up, possible fights because of crankiness, chores to make sure get done, animals to feed, noise, busyness, noise, lists, meetings, and more noise. What do you think God is preparing you for?!

“I am the vine and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”
John 15:1-5

We have discussed silence, solitude, and meditation. These three will be a part of almost all of the disciplines we look at in the future. You have to be able to sit with God, before you can do the others. You have to be able to put your time with him as the highest priority before you can practice service, study, fasting, and so many others. Remain in Christ and he will remain in you. He longs to pour out of your life. He longs to overflow from your cup and touch every person and situation that you go through in a day.

Yes it’s hard to sit and be still long enough. Yes it is then hard to go out and be in the noise of life, but we are called to take our lives and use them for the glory of our Father. Are we bearing fruit yet? How are people seeing our lives? How is God seeing our lives? Is he getting more and more proud or longing for you to come and be with him? Only you and He know the answer to these questions. Hopefully we are on the right track. Remember, we are together on this journey. Together we overflow into the lives of those around us.

God’s blessings today.

Jason