Vital Connection

We have been created for a purpose and that is to bear fruit. In John 15:16, Jesus tells his disciples ".. I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last". In ver 5 Jesus says "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit". Imagine the world to be the Father's garden (John 15:1). He has sent his son Jesus into this world to bless the world by placing him as the Vine at the center of the garden. The vine can take its fruits to all parts of the garden through the branches that reaches out in all directions. In the same way, Jesus can bless all sections of the society through us his children. The world will see love, know joy and obtain goodness through us who will bear the fruit of "love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control (Gal. 5:22,23).

His purpose for us then is that we are loving, joyful, peacable, patient, kind, good, gentle and self-controlled while we live on this earth. We might know already that we are to be people of this kind, but all too often we might be running out of love, patience, kindness, goodness and gentleness. At the drop of a hat, we might be losing our joy and peace and controlling our minds can only be easier said than done. We then start questioning if that really is the purpose when God does not seem to help us bear fruit.

Our God is a good God who does not expect something from us without providing for it. He is Jehovah Jireh who provides for our needs. He has told us how we can bear fruit and serve our purpose on earth. Let us look closely at the 'vine & branches' metaphor to unlock the secret. If you see fruits on some branches and don't see them on others, what can be the reason? They are branches of the same vine, so the problem does not lie in the soil or in the vine. It is in the "connection". "No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine (ver 5). A branch that is not connected to the vine is actually cut off from it and soon withers and dies (ver 6). It is the sap in the vine that carries the nutrients to the ends of each branch and helps it to bud, blossom (into flowers) and ripen (into fruits). For us to bear fruit and be a blessing to the world we must remain - stay connected - in him.

In John 15, Jesus specifically talks about 3 connections. Remain in me (ver 4). Remain in my love (ver 9). Let my word remain in you (ver 7). He is the Living Word, and all 3 connections are related to His word. We remain in his love by obeying his commandments (ver 10). To obey his commandments, we should be instructed in his word (his word should remain in us). And how can we be expected to receive instruction unless we remain in him, wait on him in prayer, and in reading and meditating on the Bible. When we think we are God's children and that missing one morning's devotion or one night's prayer will not matter too much to God, we will do well to remember that we are slowly losing connection and a branch that loses connection is sure to wither and die. We often forget this and then wonder why we don't seem to be the new creation that God has made us into. We often doubt our salvation or the word that implies a saved person to be a changed person -- "if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come (2 Cor 5:17). That is because we are not remaining in him, though we have come to know him and have experienced what it is to be in Him. We then start trying to be good by ourselves before finally giving up.

The secret is to "keep remaining in Him." Let me close with 2 verses that tell us clearly that we can bear fruit only through God working in us when we are remaining in him. Paul tells the Colossians that he prays that they "may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, . . . being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might (Col. 1:10,11)". He calls this power "his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. And God placed all things under his feet..(Ephes. 1:19-22)". We can win over flesh, sin, devil and self and bear fruit, ONLY with his power.

Paul calls our hope for such glory "a mystery" and that secret is "Christ in you" (Col 1:27). When we remain in Christ, he remains in us and enables us to bear fruit.