IN ME OR WITHOUT ME?

Monday, July 27, 2020

IN ME OR WITHOUT ME?

John 15:5-8

5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

6 If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.

7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.

8 Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.

           In classic, divine simplicity, Jesus offers us a choice between two paths. We can either abide IN CHRIST and bear much fruit or we can depart from the vine and walk as a singular, stubborn, and lifeless branch which produces nothing.

           Perhaps the choice is too simplistic for our minds to grasp and we stand bawling like a calf at a new gate. Is this path part of an old fence or is this fence part of the new gate? We become confused with the easiest of choices.

           The choice is life or death! It doesn’t appear so serious at first glance, but that is the truth of it. A couple of months ago an EF1 tornado tore through our little town. Just outside our office a lovely Bradford Pear tree was ravaged and twisted. Today it still stands as a twisted testimony to abiding. It lost branches and is horribly broken, but one lone branch still grows skyward. It will survive because it abides in the life-giving trunk of the tree.

           The choice is my way or His way! It is my dim and limited view or His perfect sight. The fall has made us not only stubborn but stupid. Wrong choices become a lifestyle and we become enslaved by chains of our own making. We not only become unfruitful, but we hurt others.

Deut 30:19

19 I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:

Dear Lord, let the klaxon loudly sound in my soul whenever I become stubborn. Let me choose life and bear fruit. AMEN