Sunday 13 Jan 2019

January 13: John 15:1-8

Key Verse: John 15:7
If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

Devotion:
The only way we are going to be able to bear fruit for God is to stay in His vine. That vine is Jesus Christ as He reminds us in this passage. He is the one who we need to continue to grow and to continue to be useful. As soon as a flower is picked it loses its source of food and will shortly die, but as long as it remains on the plant from which it sprouted it will continue to grow for as long as it can be used. The purpose of the flower is to make sure pollen is spread between plants so that more flowers can grow. Just like that, our purpose is to spread God’s Word so more people may come to know Him.

The root of the plant is not normally seen and yet without it the plant would not exist, nor would it be able to sustain itself should the root be cut off. Jesus is our root and we need Him in so we may continue to exist and continue to grow. Each tree or vine can grow into rather complex structures having many branches which themselves have many branches giving way to the final leaves and flowers and fruit; but all of those end points require that the root remains firm and it is a single point of entry. All the branches come down to that single trunk which depends on the unseen root.

If the plant or vine needs more food so that it can grow more fruit or leave, it does not have to ask and wait for a response before knowing whether it is going to get more food; it simply asks for the food and receives it. In the same way, Christ wants us to know we can rely on Him to give us food when we need it in order to grown more ourselves. The more a plant calls on the root for goodness the more it is able to blossom and show the world just how wonderful its root is. The more we are able to blossom with what Christ gives us, the more glory we are able to give to Him. He will never withhold anything when we are working for His glory! Let us constantly remember that we can rely on the God who keeps us and sustains us throughout everything.

Points to Ponder:
Do you like fruit?

Where would you be without Christ?