Today’s Reading: John 15; John 16; John 17; John 18
Scripture: John 15:1-4
1"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 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. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 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."
Observation: Jesus is using the metaphor of the vine and the branches. He is the vine, we are the branches, the Father is the gardener. There are two kinds of branches, fruitful and unfruitful. And each kind gets its own kind of cutting.
Application: If you bear no fruit, you get cut off. If you bear fruit, you get pruned. So stand by for cutting. The objective is fruit. The fruit is the result of God's activity in our lives. So it is our job to stay plugged in to the vine, that is, Jesus. Let God have His way in us and let His life flow through us and fruit will be the result.
Prayer: Lord, I want fruit in my life. Help me to stay in the life flow of Your kingdom. Help me to let Jesus flow through my life. And may I be the kind of branch that gets pruned because I bear fruit.
This I pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.
1 comment:
Cutting hurts. I wish God had a different way to make us fruitful! But if we have to have pain one way or another, I'd rather have my pain be productive and produce fruit. The Bible says Jesus learned obedience by the things he suffered and we must do the same.
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