Who Do You Think You Are - A Branch?
John 15:1,2, 5
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... 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.'
We don't have a vine in our garden but we do have an apple tree. Last year it fell over. Basically because its roots weren't deep enough and it hadn't been pruned right. This year it's covered with water sprouts/suckers (tall thin shoots) which serve no useful purpose and should have been removed as soon as they appeared.
Back to Jesus' vine. When I read he's the vine and I'm a branch, I get an image of him being the core trunk and us sticking-out extensions. But that's all wrong - the vine is everything - the trunk, stem, branches, leaves, fruit. So Jesus is everything - we, his branches are encompassed by him, wrapped up in him, part of his very self by the grace of God.
But what about the scary bit about being 'cut off' if there is no fruit, or pruned so more fruit is produced? What is the 'fruit' in Jesus' illustration? It must mean christian character and conduct and - making new christians! So (tremble) might Jesus 'cut me off' if my fruit isn't good enough? That would contradict his words in John 6:37: 'I will never never reject anyone who follows me' (AMP) or the Message translation ' And once that person is with me, I hold on and don’t let go.'
Jesus is pointing out that if someone is not 'in him', they are inevitably separated from the source of vital life that flows from the Father, through Jesus by his Holy Spirit and into them. They are, by their own choice, 'cut off'.
And the pruning? Vines like apple trees have useless 'suckers' - little growths that impede the fruit-bearing. Let's keep an eye out for those small (or larger) things in our lives which don't help our spiritual growth in the Vine.
Prayer — Holy Spirit, please show me any little 'suckers' developing in my life that will hinder me becoming more like Jesus - I ask you to remove them.