” I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5)
From the start of Easter, many of us have donated flowers for the decorations in the church. They always look stunning, but give them a few days and sometimes weeks, and our dear lay minister Susan would come around and remove the dead ones and replace them with new ones. Most of us receive flowers as gifts, and we all know how beautiful flowers look when presented. Those who give us flowers, love, cherish, and have good intentions. We become uplifted when we receive these flowers because for someone to have that thought and bring you flowers is admirable. These flowers are stems which are cut and arranged nicely to make them very pleasing and beautiful to the eyes. The colours, the scent and all the beauty in no time will begin to change, and we will discard them because it has outlived their usefulness. The flowers have a short life span because they have been cut from their source of life, and if you care to know, it was dead when it came. Jesus Christ is the true vine; we are the branches, and if we are cut off from him, we lose the life he gives us, which will lead to our death.
My dear Christian friends, being a part of the true vine is a huge privilege, and we must not take it for granted because this is the source of our life; without Christ, we are nothing. Acts 17:28 is explicit:
“For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring in him we move, live and have our being.”.
We only exist because of Christ, and when we are in him, we bear fruits, and these fruits always last because we are in Christ, and he is in us. When we fail to bear fruits as part of the body of Christ, we will be cut off, put in the fire, and burned because, like the flowers, we have lost our life and beauty. Therefore, we must be put away.
When we continue to stay in Christ and bear fruit, the Father, who is the vinedresser, will prune us to make us bear more fruit. Harry L Poe, an American academic, said on page 22 of his book ‘The Fruit of Christ’s Presence’ while trying to explain why we need Pruning as Christians said,
” Pruning does not detract from a fruit tree’s beauty; it enhances it. Pruning is not a punishment for a Christian; it is a reward. God is the vinedresser who prunes the life of everyone who abides in Christ and bears the fruit of Christ. Spiritual Pruning enhances spiritual growth by removing whatever inhibits spiritual growth”.
As we grow in Christ, we must go through some experiences, some difficult and some exciting, and we must embrace them all. We will be challenged at some time and have our paths straightened or directed to a different path at certain times. No matter how challenging they may be, we go through this to bear more fruits. Pruning will make us better Christians.
When we move away from Christ, we become vulnerable and open ourselves up for the enemy to have his way in our lives, and the end will be disastrous. When we continue to abide in Christ, we get everything we need to grow in our Christian journey. Abiding in Christ perfects our love for each other, and this love will not be mere rhetoric but love in action. Our conscience will never condemn us because we abide in the Lord. Remaining in Christ guarantees access to him so we can boldly ask for whatever we need.
We can remain in Christ when we obey his commandments, which are
“…that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us.” (1 John 3:22).
If we keep his commandments, we abide in him, and he will abide in us.
0 Comments