NOURISHED AND SUSTAINED #Abide

Our desire to draw near to God ; to stay connected to Him is motivated  by a lot of things. Some realize their need for Him when things are going south and there is nothing else left than to trust Him while others go to Him out of a heart that is overflowing with gratitude. The former is more frequent than the latter and yet just a few days ago someone added to the count (not that we’re keeping any) of those who run  to Him in joyful times. 

I know how one can feel uneasy in a new environment and I have been trying to be as hospitable as I can get to new staff members who join the department and it is this attitude of warmness that led me to share in a beautiful testimony from my colleague. Someone who possessed a raw desire to know God and to grow in Him because of the blessing extended to her; getting  job, a job she had been looking for for a very long time and there I was ready to bring her into this beautiful fellowship of walking in and with God and staying anchored in  Him. Out of God blessing her after a long waiting period, she wanted to know Him, she wanted to serve Him. No words can adequately describe the passion I could see in her eyes. She had fallen in  love and she wanted to stay in this love. 

We were built for connection and even though there are things that will steer us closer to Him, there is a natural void in us that is meant to be filled by God. 

John 15:1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener (vinedresser)." 

To flourish, we need to be connected. 

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I will be honest. This word vine reminds me that I am yet to make a dream a reality ; travelling to The Cape and making a trip to the wine farms, starting from Babylonstoren to Groot Constantia. I am not a wine lover ; I don’t drink wine but the process of transforming grapes to wine has always fascinated me. I owe this curiosity to Bishop TD Jakes who beautifully outlined it in his book, Crushing. A vine is  a plant whose stem requires support and which climbs by tendrils or twining or creeps along the ground. Why Jesus would liken himself to a vine becomes clear as we study the vine, the branch, the connection to the entire well being of the ‘tree’. As we have previously studied  the I am’s, there is a beautiful representation of who Jesus yet I am of the belief that this particular I am (I am the vine)  is  the glue that keeps it all together. Why? Staying connected to God is the ultimate way of living.

The vine teaches dependence and reliance. 

The symbolism of the vine isn’t something new in the Bible, it has previously been used with the Israelites albeit negatively . (Isaiah 5:1-2 ; Jeremiah 2:21 ; Psalm 80: 8-9) but Jesus introduces a life giving aspect and this is the Vine we connect to, not the Israelites.

The Vine anchors the plant to the soil, it absorbs water and the minerals necessary. The vine is also the source and sustenance of life for the branches, and the branches must abide in the vine to live and bear fruit. Jesus is the vine. We are the branches. Just as is depicted, the branches are secure when they are connected to the vine. 

“The lowliness of a vine demonstrates His humility. It also pictures a close, permanent, vital union between the vine and branches. It is symbolic of belonging, because branches belong entirely to the vine; if branches are to live and bear fruit, they must completely depend on the vine for nourishment, support, strength, and vitality.” (John MacArthur)

PRUNING

 John 15:2 "Every branch in me that does not produce fruit he removes, and he prunes every branch that produces fruit so that it will produce more fruit."

Just as a lawn requires mowing and tending to, so do the branches. This is the process that cannot be eliminated as we stay connected to God; refining, chastening. The Word of God is a tool used for pruning. The Word will  examine, pierce and it will reveal (Hebrews 4:12)

…and if it be painful to bleed, it is worse to wither. Better to be pruned to grow than to be cut up to burn. (Trapp)

THE PROMISE OF FRUITFULNESS

John 15:5 "Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing."

Isn’t that all we want? To bear fruit in and out of season. While there are many promises of abiding, fruitfulness is  at the top of the list not just because it is a sign of life but because it is also a sign of progression and growth. But fruit bearing doesn’t come by exertion, it isn’t our job to focus on it. Our dependence on God causes us to bear fruit.

“How does the branch bear fruit? Not by incessant effort for sunshine and air, not by vain struggles. It simply abides in the vine, in silent and undisturbed union, and blossoms, and fruit appear as of spontaneous growth. How then shall a Christian bear fruit? By efforts and struggles to obtain that which is freely given? No: there must be a full concentration of the thoughts and affections on Christ, a complete surrender of the whole being to Him, a constant looking to Him for grace.” – Harriet Beecher Stowe

Abiding is a choice we must make; moment by moment. Boice beautifully said that abiding means we must decide to do things which expose ourselves to God and keep us in contact with Him.

How are you making the conscious choice to abide today?

You are light and you are so loved. Stay anchored and keep His light shining through.