That You May Have LifeSýnishorn

Jesus: The True Vine

Sometimes, my toddler makes dinner for us. He pours water from his sippy cup into a little bowl, mixes in a few wooden toy vegetables, and shakes his play salt shaker over it all. After blowing imaginary steam off the freshly prepared meal, we laugh and pretend to eat, oooing and ahhing over how delicious it is! Other times, my toddler cooks a real dinner with me. I measure out an ingredient and let him pour it into the bowl. I wrap my hand around his little fingers and guide his hand in stirring.

I can’t help but think how often I spiritually resemble my toddler attempting to cook dinner on his own. “Ok, God, you want some patience and self-control? Let me make that happen for you!” “You want me to love my husband in the same way you’ve loved me? Let me get working on that!” In the same way, my toddler lacks all the capabilities and resources necessary to cook dinner on his own, the reality is we are completely unable to live out our spiritual lives in obedience to God on our own. This is why Jesus tells us in John 15:5, “Apart from me you can do nothing.”

Before this, Jesus had just announced to his disciples at their Passover celebration that he will leave them to accomplish his saving work. Jesus is headed to the cross. In this context, Jesus makes his statement: I am the true vine, my Father is the vinedresser, and you are the branches. Jesus tells his followers to “abide” in him, the vine so that they might bear fruit. As Jesus completes his work in the next hours, he is going to become the source of all spiritual life and fruitfulness for his people.

Because of the finished work of Christ, we now have this assurance: our spiritual growth is not a burden laid on our own shoulders but an assured gift in Christ. “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide,” Jesus says in John 15:16. Our spiritual fruitfulness, our capacity to obey God’s commands and become more like Jesus, is initiated and empowered by God.

Yet, while spiritual fruitfulness is dependent upon the power of Christ, we do not remain inactive. We are given the command to abide - to stay close to and connected to Jesus. In the same way, my toddler must be with me to cook dinner, so we cultivate a nearness to Jesus that draws from his power.

Abiding in Jesus is intrinsically tied to his words abiding in us, a connection John 15:7 makes. When we read, hear, or meditate on God’s words given to us in Scripture, we’re led into fellowship with God. I’ve come to think of abiding in Jesus through his Word with the metaphor of breathing: breathe in God’s Word, breathe out prayer. Let’s take this John passage for an example of what this practice might look like:

John 15:2 says, “Every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit.” To pray these words back to God might look like - “God, I’m experiencing some hard circumstances that are really pushing and testing me right now. But you say in your Word that you prune me so that I’ll bear more fruit. Help me to see my trials as evidence of your love, as a means of growing me to be more like Christ. Give me a willing heart that submits to your hand.”Receiving and praying God’s words keeps us connected to Jesus. It directs us in what to ask for, what to depend on, and in which promises to stake our hope as we live out our faith with Jesus.

As followers of Christ, we are not called to try as hard as we can and ask God for help with the rest. No, we are given one role: abide. I think about the frequent times my toddler attempts to take a spoon or spatula from my hand and stir on his own. A mess almost always erupts everywhere! “Let me guide your hand,” I tell him, wrapping my fingers around his. This is the gentle call of Christ: Let me wrap my hands around yours as they work. Let me guide and empower all your efforts. Rest in me. Trust in me. Let our movements become as one.