“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, as I also 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 you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are 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 done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. -John 15:1-8
REMAIN IN JESUS. Jesus is the vine and we are the branches, that means that He bears the weight of us, He nourishes us, feeds us, waters us and roots us.
Without Him we are dead branches.
Sometimes we get so wrapped up in knowledge that we actually ignore meaning. We become so focused on retaining the information that we don’t think about what it means.
Often, when we grow up in church, we hear phrases like “He is the vine, we are the branches” and we gloss over it.
But Jesus is the vine. That means we can do nothing for Him, without Him. Have you ever seen a branch on the ground bear fruit without being attached to the vine?
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So why do we think we can do it on our own?
The vine feeds us, gives us water and roots us.
Jesus is the vine and He provides more for us then just food, water and shelter. He gives us life, confidence, love, peace, patience. I could go on…
He provides everything for us.
Anytime I’m having a bad day it’s because I didn’t go to Jesus for nourishment. I can have the same exact day and if I started my day with nourishment (wisdom, guidance, strength, patience) from Jesus, I will not have a bad day. Because He is with me, He lifts me up to bear fruit instead of fear.
Life without Jesus produces fear, fear of the unknown, fear of survival. Wondering, how you will provide? Why else would we go to work, but to provide for ourselves and our families.
But when we are in the vine, Jesus takes care of all your needs so we can bear fruit.
When we remain in Jesus, focused on him, letting him live through us. Bearing fruit becomes a bi-product of our relationship with him. Have you ever had a friend that just encourages you to be kinder, nicer and more generous then you would if you were alone. That’s Jesus. When we allow him to be our focus we will help that stranger, pick-up that piece of trash, put others before ourselves, because that is who Jesus is and that is bearing fruit.
Photo by Xiaolong Wong on Unsplash