Jesus had a way of expressing and teaching practical principals for living that would just simply blow you away. I have read through John 15 at least a dozen times and I saw a principal while doing my daily study that I think needs to be shared.
Jesus' style of teaching was fairly simple, yet very deep. He would often use his very surroundings as teaching tools for his classroom. So, when Jesus decided to teach his boys, a principal on abiding in the vine, he was more than likely standing in the middle of a “grape vineyard.” You know “grapes” those little precious things used to make that delicious bottle of “Merlot.” Ok, I can hear your brains' wheels screeching to a halt, and posing the question why was Jesus standing with his disciples, mind you, in the middle of a vineyard? Now that’s a topic for another day.
Anyway, let’s see, where was I? Jesus says in John15:4 “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.” So I’m reading this passage and immediately in my mind I’m thinking “do.” You know do “spend more time witnessing”, do “spend more time teaching”, do “spend more time reaching out to others”, do blah blah blah blah.
And then it hit me, a Vine Branch does not “do” anything to produce grapes. The branch that produces the grapes is the branch that is “connected to the vine.” It could not be that simple I thought to myself, you mean all this time I have worked so hard to be a better Christian and all I have to do is stay close and connected to Jesus! In the word’s of one of my many favorite teachers, Charles Swindoll, “How foolish is it of me to think that I could do anything without spending time with Jesus? Well, that’s about as foolish as a dried-up twig trying to grow a grape!”
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