December 17: The Vine
“I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”
Every good green thumb knows that it all starts with the soil, then the roots, then the base of the plant, and then the branches. To get the beautiful flowers and fruit, we must start at the roots. And as any indoor plant enthusiast like myself knows, this is harder than it looks. Now much like the poor plants in my home, we as humans often fail to flourish, we often wilt, not knowing our place, our role and our purpose in life. Lucky for us, Jesus does not leave us in the dark.
He tells us, we are branches. As much as we like to think we are, we are not the vine, or the roots or the soil. On the contrary, we depend on the vine. We need it to flourish, and even to survive. In this passage, Jesus says He is the vine. He sustains us, He helps us flourish, He helps us regain our strength when we’re beginning to wilt. We thrive when we are connected to him. If we are in Christ, we will never die an eternal death. He promises to sustain us until we meet him in heaven, and then for eternity (John 14:3). Everything that we need, we get from him.
This truth is what empowers us, not our sinful attempts to do life without Christ. Paul in Philippians 4:13 says that we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. You cannot, without the strength of Christ, love your spouse, your children, your difficult co-worker or neighbour, or that friend who is hard work. You cannot support your loved ones when they are struggling, you cannot cope with chronic disease or death, you cannot read your bible and pray in a way that is fruitful, or have the energy to meet the demands of this life. But with Christ, and by Christ you can. Jesus promises you fullness of joy and help in this difficult life. You cannot live without Christ, but my goodness, you can LIVE with Christ. He is the vine. You are the branches. Abide in him both now and forever.