Daily Devotional for May 7, 2014

John 15:5
I am the vine, and you are the branches. If you stay joined to me, and I stay joined to you, then you will produce lots of fruit. But you cannot do anything without me.

Scripture taken from the Contemporary English Version © 1991,1992, 1995 by American Bible Society, Used by Permission.

This morning, I went and got my outdoor potted plants out of my niece’s basement, where they have spent the winter.  It’s warm enough now to set them out on our back porch again.  Over the last few months, these plants grew spindly…and some even developed dead wood.  So I first set them out on the driveway and gave them all a good pruning before placing them in their spots for the summer.

As I cut away thick, leggy begonia stems, I saved a couple of sprouts to put back into the dirt and hopefully add a little fullness to the pot.  But many of the branches went into the trash can.  Without soil and water, they will wither and die there.  Apart from the vine that sustained them, these stems are pretty much worthless.  Now here’s the thing about begonia plants in particular.  These cut sprigs can do fairly well for a while apart from the vine.  They are hardy (or are they stubborn?)...and I could probably keep them in a vase with just a little water for several days – or even weeks.  But to really thrive, they need the vine…and the soil.

If you back up and read the first few verses of John 15, you hear him talk about how God prunes back the branches that are not producing good fruit…much as I pruned back the wiry twigs of these house plants. In just a few short weeks, what was left after the pruning will fill out and flourish – and be better than ever!

This is how it is with us and God.  We are like the begonia plant that has a lot of “useless fruit” – or “spindly legs” that take us nowhere.  Apart from God, we might manage okay for a while…or at least we will think we are doing okay!  But eventually, we will start to realize that we are not reaching our full potential…that things are not going as well as we hoped…or maybe even that our lives are falling apart.  We may stubbornly attempt to persevere on our own…but this will never work for long.

We need the Vine.  In order to thrive, we need God’s nurture and ever-present care and attention.  With God, all things are possible.  Without Him…our efforts are no more valuable than the discarded begonia stems I threw in the trash. What we accomplish on our own will never measure up.  It won’t satisfy…and more importantly, it won’t please God.  We either stay joined to Him, or we waste our time and energy…and God’s.

I’ll be honest…it pained me a little to cut those vines and blossoms from my plants. And it pains God to cut out the “dead wood”, too.  But I know what is coming.  I have done this before, and I know that the results will soon be beautiful and lush and delightful.  And God knows this, too.  He is ready to support you and watch you soar.  Are you ready to cling to Him and produce “good fruit”?

©2014 Debbie Robus