Jesus is the Vine

John 15:1-8

Jesus teaches us through this word picture of The True Vine both who He is and who we are in Him. He states that He is the "vine" and we are the "branches". Right away this evokes pictures of a grape vine that has many branches all producing a healthy crop of grapes. In this picture the vine is the source of nutrition for the branches, who are the conduit for the fruit to be nourished.

So what does all this mean? Jesus is identifying how the Father has caused us to rely on Jesus, the Vine. We need to have an intimate relationship with Him in order to be able to accomplish all that we were made to do. The term "abide" that is used in the New King James Version of the Bible means just that. To be in close and intimate relationship.

I love the picture of the Vine, because it shows that we cannot accomplish anything of value on our own. We need to be in an intimate relationship with Jesus for us to be productive and "bear fruit". The fruit is anything of eternal value and only can be produced by the life giving flow that come from Jesus and flows through the branches, us.

How do you have an intimate relationship with Jesus? First, ask Him. It is just that simple. Second, get to know Him. The easiest way to do that is by reading the Bible and spending time with others that believe and know about Him. A good place do this is at a Bible teaching church. Third, let Him work on you and work through you. By working on you, as you get to know Jesus more, it will become apparent some things in your life that you will want to get out of your life. Let Him point those thing out and help you remove them. Working through you... there will be things that become apparent that you should be doing. Things like, sharing your belief in Jesus with others. This is the kind of eternal fruit that Jesus is talking about. Finally, pray. Just like asking Jesus for an intimate relationship, praying is just talking to Him. He hears you when you talk to Him and in time you will "hear" Him too.

May you find Life in the Vine as much a joy as I have!

Patrick