Monday 9 Jul 2018

July 9: John 15:1-8

Key Verse: John 15:4
Remain in me, as I also 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.

Devotion:
It seems pretty obvious to us that when we go to the shops and buy a bunch of grapes we will not get any more grapes growing from the branch after we have eaten them. If you take a close look at the branch, everything seems ok on the first day, but by the second day the branch is already withering. Leave it another day and the branch may even look like it has been in a desert for a few weeks as all the goodness is drawn out of it by the grapes. After that, you’re going to be left with grapes which start turning to raisins! No matter how big the branch, the same thing is going to happen and eventually the grapes will not get any goodness from the branch.

Each branch needs to be sustained in some manner and that manner is by it depending on another branch or on the trunk itself. The trunk has a similar problem; without the roots it is not able to survive. Take out the roots from the equation and you have a dead tree or bush just waiting to happen. The more fruit and leaves it is bearing the more quickly it will seem to wither and die. In essence, the branches and trunk are witness to the fact the unseen roots are there, that they are real and in good condition. We would know something was wrong when we started to see things wither. There is a big difference between withering and a lean year for fruit. In a lean year, the bush may not give forth much fruit but you can see that it is still in good health.

Why did Jesus compare Himself and God to the trunk and branches? Well the answer should be fairly obvious now that we have had a quick nature lesson! Without Christ in our lives we are not going to be able to bear fruit. We may look good with a bit of fruit, but if we do not continue to depend in Christ, we are not going to be able to feed our fruit for long. We will wither and fade away before we know it! But whilst we are in Christ, He is in us as He feeds us intravenously – sometimes we don’t know how we get that food, but we get it! We know it has come from God because we continue to get it!

Points to Ponder:
Have you ever tried to grow a plant without roots?

We cannot even start to grow without God!