At His Feet

11/12/2020:

John 15:1-7

Jesus said, "I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch of mine that does not produce fruit. He also trims every branch that produces fruit to prepare it to produce even more. You have already been prepared to produce more fruit by the teaching I have given you. Stay joined to me and I will stay joined to you. No branch can produce fruit alone. It must stay connected to the vine. It is the same with you. You cannot produce fruit alone. You must stay joined to me. "I am the vine, and you are the branches. If you stay joined to me, and I to you, you will produce plenty of fruit. But separated from me you won't be able to do anything. If you don't stay joined to me, you will be like a branch that has been thrown out and has dried up. All the dead branches like that are gathered up, thrown into the fire and burned. Stay joined together with me, and follow my teachings. If you do this, you can ask for anything you want, and it will be given to you.

Jesus said that He is the true vine and we are the branches. Apart from Christ; we can't do anything life-giving or good. Just like without the vine, a plant cannot prosper: vines allow the plant to grow and reach heights it's not able to get to on its own. Not only are vines beautiful for the landscape but they produce fruit (grapevines) for people to use and live on. It provides shade for animals and people and did you know that the vine allows its branches to grow even when it's still in dark areas? All of that is possible because the branches are connected to the vine.

So without the vine, the branches would be bare and pathetically shriveled up - earthbound and weak. When its like that, the gardener have no choice but to throw the branches in the fire - because its no use and won't give anything helpful.

So the vine is imperative to the survival and life of the branches connected to it. It's the same thing with us and our relationship with Christ. We can't produce anything good (fruit) without Christ. We can't grow (spiritually, emotionally, and manifestly) unless we stay connected to Christ.

God, the Father, is the gardener: He's the one that cuts off what needs to be cut. God does that because He knows what we need more than we know. When I took up gardening over the summer - I learned that you have to cut off dead branches and infected branches because it stops the rest of the body from growing and producing fruit. As soon as I cut out the dead branches, my rosebush then began growing and giving adorable flowers. God needs to cut off things in the body of Christ (us) things that are stopping us from growing and bearing fruit. And those things must be burned.

The dead things and infected things need to be brought to the Father's attention and then cut off because if the Gardener leaves it, it can kill us, and God cares more about that than we care. If we get disconnected and die, God has no choice but to put us in the furnace. That's something that we can't overlook.

God is good and He's also Holy. If we come to Him sorry and wanting to come back, I'm sure He'll let us come back. He's a good father. However, if a person falls away and does not want to come back, why would God let a dead branch corrupt His plant?

He'll have no choice but to burn the shriveled up branch. That's why Jesus repeatedly stresses for us to stay connected with Him. To remain in Him then He will remain in us - don't walk away or try to do things on our own. Do not refuse Him because life for a dead branch is short and sad.

The last thing I want to talk about in this passage is when Jesus said that if we remain in Him, we can ask for anything and it will be given to us. The first thing that popped into my mind with this is that I can ask for what I want and it will be given to me. Like if I stay with Jesus, I can ask for a car to magically appear with my name on it and He'll do it but that is NOT what the scripture means.

A pastor explained it as this: the branches are so close to the vine that they technically become one. What the vine gets it goes to the branches. In other words, when we remain in Christ and abide, we become so close to the point that we want what God wants. We will know what to ask God for because we know what would please God.

I think the best example I can paint would be a pregnancy. The baby and the mother have this bond that goes beyond natural. The baby, as it forms in the womb, is kept alive in the uterus and the umbilical cord is the thing that passes oxygen and nutrients to the child. So when baby's hungry, the mama knows it and delivers.

And I heard that the baby can hear us even in the womb. The bond that the child has with its parents begins when they are in the womb (which explains why my niece hardly kicks my hand because she knows I'm not the mother.) They are super close that when the baby is born and hear their parent's voice - they know it and calm down. A child loves their parents even when the parent has to discipline them because they know their parent loves them still.

Its the same with God and us. We need to be close to Him - like a baby in the womb - so connected and in need of Him that once we are born, we know who He is and what He wants.

I hope this is making sense. To put it in a simple example (pardon all these examples) would be my relationship with my sister. Now, I know my older sister - I grew up with the kid and out of everyone I know, I say with confidence that God and her are my only BEST friends because I tell them everything. We're so close that (pardon this image) we call each other while in the bathroom. We talk so much that I know my sister like my body: I know what her brain is like and what she enjoys and dislikes. I know what kind of things she wants for Christmas without her even saying anything. There's been many times where I called her and she was thinking of calling me at the same exact moment.

And she knows me. My sister know how I think and when I'm sad even when I don't show it. She knows that I don't like crying in front of people unless its her and she knows my before and my after story with Christ.

Our bond is so close that we can talk to each other about EVERYTHING and our relationship prospers even when we have disagreements. It's the same with God and us. We'll start to know Him like He knows us and our relationship will prosper and we can talk to Christ about ANYTHING and ask for anything, trusting that He will answer and that however He answers, it will be for our good. It may be a "no" or "later" or "yes" but its because He knows us and knows what we need. He knows what we harm us or help us.

Since my sister loves me, I listen to her. I know that when she tells me something (even if I don't like it that moment) its out of love and to protect me. If my sister would move mountains just for me and I for her, just imagine how greater God's love for us is!