Photo Credit: Dreamstime
I was looking out the window, seeing the branches wave around and realized how important we are as the Branches of Christ. In the same day, I was doing devotionals with my girls and read John 5:15, “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.” As I looked at that verse and saw the branches outside, I noticed how important it is to be connected to the vine because if they weren’t, the wind would blow them away and they would die. Just like our source is Jesus Christ and He is the only true vine to stay connected to, and apart from that we would not be effective Christians and be useless. The verse goes on to say, “Anyone who parts from me is thrown away like a useless branch and withers. Such branches are gathered into a pile to be burned.” Have you ever had friends burn you? It didn’t feel good and maybe we even felt alone and lost at times and this verse is saying that we will be found in Christ if we remain in Him. He won’t let us down. This motivates me to stay connected to our Father and not focus on the world because it will let us down every time. I have had close friends burn me and it doesn’t feel good and it took me awhile to recover but it made me realize that they are not my source of strength and identity.
Being a branch means you are a vessel and a voice for God. As we are His vessel, He doesn’t want to leave us as a regular branch but wants to shape and prune us to bear fruit. We are imperfect people so pruning is an everyday process and thank goodness we have a perfect Father that shapes us and by grace molds us to be like Him. By pruning we can then bear fruit that God has called us to. For example, finding out your spiritual gifts and using those gifts to glorify God and fruit will come from that along with our
obedience to God. Discovering how God has gifted you is such a neat journey because you find out how God made each of us so unique and there is no one branch that looks like another. As we remain in the Vine, we can have a full life of fruit and blessing. How awesome is that, do we want to settle for anything less? Now listen to this next verse it goes on to say, “But if you stay joined to me and my words remain in you, you may ask any request you like, and it will be granted.” Wow! That is powerful stuff, as we stay joined to HIM and God’s truth is dwelling in our hearts, we can pray and ask anything according to God’s will and it will be answered. Now that is great news! God desires us to be His branches, His messengers to further His kingdom. Our job is to be the best branch so that we can bear much fruit. Are you willing to be a true disciple and produce the fruit God has called you to? Start today and don’t wait on your other branch friends! Begin now!
