Staying on the Vine

Jesus says, "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" (John 15:5). In my self-willed moments, I act like the robot testing boundaries, thinking that I'm missing out on life. That just past the horizon, there is something that I need, even though I may have no clue what that may be. The world can be very enticing (to say the least). But, I must always remember that Jesus is my source of life and that apart from Him I really can do nothing. Just like the robot, when I venture too far away from the source of life, Jesus, I slowly begin to tire, weaken and fade. "If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned" (John 15:6).

Now don't get me wrong, I am not saying that believers should seclude themselves away from the world. What I am saying is that believers need to wrestle within themselves and bring our self-will into submission under the lordship of Christ (no matter how painful). In His mercy, God restrains us for a reason. When He tells me "Don't," it's usually "Don't hurt yourself." We must never forget that God can see the whole painting, whereas we can only see a portion of the painting at a time. Our perspective is limited, God's isn't. We need to move from living a Jesus plus faith to a Jesus alone faith. The more we press into Jesus, the Word of God, the more we will understand just how fully sufficient He is. I believe when we do this, we will experience the depth and fullness of life that Jesus promises us (John 10:10). But more often than not, we settle for a life of shallowness with faint glimpses of depth and fullness.