John 15 -- What's Going On Inside A Branch On A Vine?

Gardening for food is so much different than gardening for looks.  Over the years I’ve seen little scraggly fruit trees in the yards of several friends, and I’ve wondered why they didn’t dig the little things up and instead plant trees that would produce better shad and that would look better.  What I’d been failing to account for was the bounty that those trees produced.  These friends knew that there was joy in what was received from those less-than-lovely trees.  I think that gives me a hint of what Jesus was mentioning here.

Christianity is not about looks or perceptions.  Appearances mean nothing.  Jesus clearly says that He finds no usefulness in a branch that fails to produce fruit.  The primary reason for His attitude, I believe, is that lack of fruit is a symptom of lack of connection to Him – vital connection.  He tells us to remain in His love, receiving on a constant basis His encouragement, support, and yes, even His challenges to produce.  He tells us that to do that, we have to obey His commands.  Someone not doing this is not being a good witness for Him either.  The type of fruit He wants us to produce is “fruit that will last.”  What kind is that?  Fruit that will live after us and produce after us – souls added to the kingdom.

There’s a huge benefit from doing that, too.  He describes himself as the vine and us as the branches.  Branches that are producing much fruit have an incredible amount of sap from the vine flowing through them.  They become bigger and better conduits of that sap.  In the same way, fruitbearing causes our own lives to be bigger and better conduits of His love, enriching not only others, but our own lives in the process.

Father, that’s the only way to live.  Open up every spiritual artery and vein in me.  Let me feel Your love coursing through me on its way to those You are growing through me.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford