John 15:1-8
“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.
Verse 5: 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.
Again, Jesus says that He is the vine, and we are the branches. We know that branches that are not connected to the vine will die. Therefore, we must abide in Jesus in order to survive. . He must be the center and the focus of our lives. We need to spend time with Him, giving Him the attention that He deserves. James 4:8a says "Come near to God and He will come near to you." The Lord wants to commune with us, to have an intimate friendship with us, but He allows us to make the first step.
I am reminded of the story of the prodigal son, specifically the part where the son is on his way home.
Luke 15:20 - So he got up and went to his father.
“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.
You see, the son simply had to humble himself and turn back to the father, and he came to meet him with outstretched arms. The same is true for us and our Father. God knows that we're never going to get it all right all the time. If that were the case, there would've been no need for a Savior. Instead, He sees our broken and contrite hearts, our humility and godly sorrow, which leads to repentance. He sees that we've turned our hearts (back) to Him, and He's ready to embrace us.
When we are abiding in Christ, we will bear much fruit. The more connected we are to Him, the more we are going to resemble Him by our actions. If Jesus is truly the center of our lives, it's going to be so obvious to everyone around us. We're going to love people that otherwise seem unlovable; we're going to have a joy that makes no sense; we're going to have peace that surpasses understanding; we're going to be patient in ways that never seemed possible; we're going to be kind in unexpected situations; we're going to be good when it would be easier to sin; we're going to be faithful when everyone around says, "that's impossible;" we're going to show gentleness when our flesh wants to be rough; we're going to have self-control when it would be "more fun" to be undisciplined.
The "apart from me you will do nothing" portion of this verse is the one I'm not too sure about. Does Jesus mean that we can literally do nothing without Him? Or is he saying that we can't bear fruit without Him? In the context of this passage, I think the latter makes more sense. Of course branches that are not connected to the vine cannot bear fruit. Likewise for us and our connection to Christ. I don't think that the fruit Jesus is referring to is just our good works, but also our proof of life. If we don't bear fruit, we might as well be dead.
No comments:
Post a Comment