"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I will 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. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing."
Ever since my Pastor went on Sabbatical this summer, He has come back with an addition to his sermons: a weekly assignment. The obsessive compulsive teacher that lives inside my head squeals with joy, and makes checklists and writes things in her planner to frequently look at and highlight...but enough about her, I need to keep her in a closet and only let her out when its time to clean or study.
This week, the assignment was to memorize and meditate on John 15:1-17. I only went as far as verse 6 today, because it stopped me dead in my tracks. Like God's Word always does, it speaks so relevantly into my life, pertaining to things that happened this week, or in this instance, less than 24 hours ago.
It's that time of year when all of my landscaping is well past it's glory and it's thinking about turning brown. It's that time of the year when I purposely stop watering things and hope for one night of frost so I can prune everything, dump my pots and haul all the summer's labor to the burn pile in our pasture. Thank you God, that you have so much more patience, compassion, and competence as a gardener than I do. You never grow tired of the task - you never long for frost so you can throw me out.
When I'm reading God's word, He often makes a pre-point that makes opens my eyes to His love and gives me a grateful and open heart. That's what the gardener reference was today, just a reminder that He loves me. He is not like me. His patience and attention to work in me is so much greater than the highest human standard of work ethic.
Then, once He reminds me of some part of His character that makes my heart soft and open, He starts His lesson: THE REMAINING. Oh how I have needed to hear again and be reminded again, and be convicted again about THE REMAINING. I pulled out my little notecard book to record the verse (I carry this around in my purse so I can glance at it in stolen moments of quiet), I found this note, in my very own handwriting, defining what God has shown me what it means to remain in Him.
THE REMAINING
"For my faith to flourish, and for my Spirit to depend on God completely- I must have daily discipline. I must read the Word daily. I must pray prayers of Trust & Thanksgiving daily. I must choose joy and dependence and obedience daily. Throughout the day. Hourly! Minutely!"
And so the discipline of THE REMAINING is not new to me, but it is the most essential staple of my faith. Confession time: my amnesiac soul too often ignores the call to REMAIN. And my heart longs after idols, like afternoon or evening marathons of my favorite shows on Netflix, or my favorite novels, or Facebook, or Pinterest. And I stay up too late, and I sleep too late, and I hit the snooze button through my appointments with his Presence. I miss out on THE REMAINING, and therefore miss out on what God is doing.
Jesus makes some very, very important claims about Himself and about his disciples in this passage.
1) Jesus says about himself:
He is the channel through which my whole Christian life flows. Just like a leaf or a branch could not survive if it was cut off the vine, neither can I survive as a Christian without Christ.
2) Jesus says about me:
I cannot bear fruit without being connected to Him or remaining in Him.
If I look at Galatians 5, this means I cannot display love, have joy, experience peace, be patient, be kind, be good, be faithful, be gentle or control my self without being connected to Jesus. Just like a branch on a vine, I need this connection DAILY and without excuse.
When I don't remain in Him, I growl and yell expletives when my mashed potatoes are too soupy (yes, in the last 24 hours). When I don't remain in him, I do household chores while wallowing in self-pity and irritation. When I don't remain in him, I'm short with my husband and children. When I don't remain in Him, I set the mood for my entire household - they walk on eggshells, they have hurt in their eyes, they feel bothersome, helpless and small.
But when I practice the discipline, the beautiful joyful discipline of reading God's Word and praying every day, my perspective changes. God sends me love notes about gardening, among other topics, and gives me a focus for the day. I begin my day rooted and established in His love, and I remember who I am and how much I mean to the God of the Universe. I have a purpose and intentional ideas about how my day will go. I have the freedom to act, instead of just react. And best of all - the benefits always exceed the effort. He promises with that if I follow Him, His joy will be in me and my joy will be complete. I will make Him smile, and He will put that smile inside my heart to shine out all day long.
I will bear much fruit. It will occur to me to love my husband and kids on purpose, in the ways I have learned they feel the most loved. I will be patient with others, instead of mentally demanding my right to move quickly through life. Kindness will trump witty snark, or the need to be right, or the raging desire to gossip. I'll feel peaceful because God has reminded me of eternity, and lifted me above my circumstances. I'll choose to say good things to others that build them up, instead of bad or degrading things because they have irritated me. Whatever the situation is, I can bear the fruit of the Spirit because I have recently been reminded that my lot in life is to glorify God. Period. In any situation He brings my way. Even if I don't FEEL peaceful, or FEEL patient or FEEL good or kind or self-controlled, I can BE those things, because his Spirit is in me, and because I know who I am.
I'm grateful to many good friends, of all ages and walks of life, who remind me and encourage me to simply to REMAIN in Him. God, light in a fire in me.
Good stuff! And you are not alone in these struggles. I can very much identify. You should share this with the Body...
ReplyDelete