April 26, 2026 -The Nature of the Vine
- brooks16055
- 13 minutes ago
- 3 min read
John 15:4-6 NIV
[4] Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. [5] “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. [6] If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.
Yesterday at my youth training weekend we had one on one time to listen to each other's story of a time when we felt close to God. The only thing I could think of was that I feel close to God whenever I am pursuing a connection with Him. I told the story of how I came to surrender my life to His word. When I realized the importance of remaining in Him. The more I seek nourishment from the vine the close I feel to Him. The closer I feel to Him the more fruitful I am. The more conscientious I am. The more influence He has on what I think and do.
John 15:9-10 NIV
[9] “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. [10] If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love.
Yesterday's post is about how if we love Him we will obey him. If we do as Jesus does we remain in in the Father's love.
John 15:18-19 NIV
[18] “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. [19] If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.
The more we remain in the vine and in the Father's love the more the world will disagree with us. The more we will experience trouble and struggles in dealing with people of the world. Because when we are grafted into the vine we take on characteristics of the vine. We are no longer only what we were when we were of the world. It reminds me of Romans 12 which also happened to be one of the scriptures for our devotional before training today.
Romans 12:1-2
12 Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
God's mercy is that He provides the vine. Jesus is the vine and He willingly receives us to be grafted in. But for us to become a true living and thriving part of the vine we need to surrender our bodies to the vine. A branch that is grafted into a vine that does not take on the nature of the vine will wither and die. We need to be willing to sacrifice what we were, in order to become what He would have us be. When we do that we are transformed inside and out. We will no longer be conformed to what we were when we were of the world. When the world sees us it will not like what it sees. Jesus is the vine and the renewing of our mind but only if we surrender to the nature of the vine.
Comments