I am the true vine…’ (John 15:1)
Over the past couple of weeks our gardens have been beginning to blossom as new life appears on trees, bushes and plants. Much of the preparation for this would have been done in the Autumn of last year and at the beginning of Spring this year when a lot of pruning and cutting back of old growth would have been carried out. Such pruning is necessary in order to encourage new growth and the result of that is the glorious display we see in so many gardens now.
A large portion of John chapter 15 is taken up looking at this, the last of Jesus’ ‘I am…’ sayings and the message is clear. If we want to grow and mature in our faith then we have to remain attached to Jesus Christ, the true vine. What does that mean on a daily basis? It means coming to the Lord in prayer, reading His Word and allowing His Spirit to work within us to make us more Christ like.
However, at the same time we also need to allow God, through the Holy Spirit, as it transforms us from within – to prune all within us that is not of God that we might bear fruit worthy of our faith. That fruit is the fruit of the Holy Spirit that we read of in Galatians 5:22-23 ‘…love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control…’ Only then will we be able to show ourselves to be the Disciples that Jesus calls us to be and bring glory and honour to His name.
Lord, we confess how easy it is to become detached from You. There are so many distractions and temptations in our lives and all too often, despite our best efforts and good intentions, we do succumb to them. So help us we pray to remain attached to our Lord, the true vine that we may indeed bear witness to Your name in all we say and do. Amen.