by Justin
John 15: The Vine and the Branches
7:30 pm in Bible Thoughts by Justin
I recently went to Panama City Beach, Florida for a church retreat and we studied in John 15 about the Vine and the branches. Jesus is the Vine and His disciples are the branches. The results of their good work is their fruit. As Christians we want to have a lot of fruit. We need Jesus – to be attached to the vine – to be successful. In other words we need to abide in Christ. What does that mean though? I think Christ hints at it in verse 15 where He says “I have called you friends”. What do you do with your friends? You spend time with them. You talk to them and listen to what they have to say. We must read His Word, the Bible, and talk to God in prayer. We must worship him. Integrity Music sends me free cds to listen to. One cd I recently got was Hillsong’s “This is Our God”. I love listening to it and singing with them in worship. Why not today pop in your favorite worship music and abide in the Creator. Let your worship be the fertilizer that helps you bring forth fruit.
Who doesn’t want to be successful? I can’t think of anyone who would be happy to be a failure. One thing you need to know to be successful though is to correctly define success. As Christians, we are the branches. That is our job and to be successful means to produce fruit. We should be growing in Holiness. We should be building character. Our ministry on this earth should be seeing more people coming to know Christ and becoming more like him every day. It is not the job of the branches to necessarily produce shiny new sports cars or gigantic mansions. It is the job of the branches to produce fruit. How will we be sustained if we don’t worry about ourselves though? Simple – it is the vine that brings the necessary nutrients. We must simply abide in the Vine and he will take care of our true needs.
I admit that this for me is a work in progress. I have plans, detailed plans that are all about God, but have little to do with trusting Him. I must trust in Christ to take care of me. It is not my job to have everything in order. It is my job to use what Christ gives me to produce fruit. How is your fruit?
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