Vine Grabbing

Good Morning,

Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. John 15:4-5

These are our theme verses for this month. As we talked about in the video introduction, as Christ-follower’s the vine is our source of nourishment. It brings vitality to our spiritual walk. It literally makes the difference between thriving and withering.  It takes our work for God beyond just work to Vine-fueled fruit.

Some years ago, I visited London, England and saw an amazing grape vine that was planted in 1768. It has a main root that is 2 feet in diameter! There are branches on that vine 200 feet away from the main stem. Yet despite the distance, they bear fruit each year. Why? Because they draw their very life and sustenance from the vine. Without that connection it dies. Any hope the branches have for growing beautiful grapes comes from an utter dependence on vine connection.

Jesus says that it how our relationship with Him should be. Our abiding in Him is a continual, never-ending lifeline to fruit bearing. The fruit we bear comes not from our skill and ability, but from our connection to Him. Fruit production is a natural outgrowth of abiding. Without that connection we can work, but what comes from it is only as good as us. In fact, it may not be what God desires most for us at all. When we are properly connected, God is the fruit producer. We are a conduit of the power source, not the power source itself.

Next week we will look at three practical aspects of abiding. For now though, let me close with this powerful thought from Max Lucado’s book, Anxious for Nothing. 1. 

The branch never releases the vine. Ever! If branches had seminars, the topic would be “Secrets of Vine Grabbing.” But branches don’t have seminars, because to attend them they would have to release the vine – something they refuse to do.  The dominant duty of the branch is to cling to the vine. The dominant duty of the disciple is the same.

We Christians tend to miss this. We banter about pledges to “change the world,” “make a difference for Christ,” “lead people to the Lord.” Yet these are by-products of the Christ-focused life. Our goal is not to bear fruit. Our goal is to stay attached.

Let that sink in this morning.

Questions to ponder this week:

1.    To what extent is my good work “me-fueled” instead of “Vine-fueled”?

2.    How am I doing at abiding?

Live on purpose,

Ron Klopfenstein, CPLC

1. Anxious for Nothing, Max Lucado, Thomas Nelson Publishing