John 15:4-7
Stay joined to me, and I will stay joined to you. Just as a branch cannot produce fruit unless it stays joined to the vine, you cannot produce fruit unless you stay joined to me. 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. If you don't stay joined to me, you will be thrown away. You will be like dry branches that are gathered up and burned in a fire.
Stay joined to me and let my teachings become part of you. Then you can pray for whatever you want, and your prayer will be answered.
Scripture taken from the Contemporary English Version © 1991,1992, 1995 by American Bible Society, Used by Permission.
If you have ever lost one piece to something in a set, you know how incomplete the rest becomes. Take earrings, for instance. Once in a while, it happens… you lose one of your favorite earrings. You don’t know where or how it happened, but now the other one is pretty much tossed to the back of the jewelry box and forgotten… rendered useless. Or maybe you throw away the odd piece altogether.
Another is buttons. We need buttons on our shirts and other items of clothing. But often, when we lose a button, a suitable replacement just cannot be found. So we toss the shirt into the trash or rag bin… or at best, we stick it in the back of the closet and wear it when we are doing odd jobs around the house.
Of course, we all know that leaves and fruit that fall from a tree or vine quickly wither and die without the strength and sustenance of the plant itself. And this may be exactly why Jesus chose this illustration. Apart from Him, we will wither and die… and ultimately be tossed away to join Satan in the depths of hell. I’m not saying this to scare anyone… but the fires of hell are like the fires that burn dead, dry branches – only worse – and the idea of Satan’s misery and darkness for all eternity does not interest me in the least!
The bottom line is that we must stay connected to God. We must be continually joined to Him in communication and prayer, faith and trust, service to Him and to others, and fellowship with other believers. We must never pull away or get so arrogant as to think we don’t need God… even for the smallest task or for even one minute from your day.
You wouldn’t think of wearing only one earring just because you lost the other. You probably would be uncomfortable wearing a shirt with missing buttons. Shouldn’t you be uncomfortable even thinking about spending any time apart from God? Are you attached to the Vine today?
©2011 Debbie Robus
No comments:
Post a Comment