John 15:1-8 NIV
My gardens have been a mess this summer. Very little time to care for them. My flower garden and raspberry bushes look especially unkempt. This is my fault. Much to my husband's chagrin, I have allowed a family of raccoons to eat, play and rest there. But, I do live in the woods and I figure they live there, too. No one hardly ever sees the garden beside me and I do enjoy watching the baby raccoons as much as I enjoy the flowers and raspberries. Consequently, I have had a lot of broken flower stems and broken raspberry branches to gather and burn. No, hollyhocks this year; they stand alone and when one is trampled it dies. But, there have been a lot of raspberries. It is as though they have been pruned; yet, not destroyed. After all; the branches of the raspberry bush do not stand alone. They are connected to one another.
Lately, I've been noticing that there seem to be a lot of another kind of branches not connected to the vine or at least they appear not to be. Maybe, I am mistaken. But, it does appear that many who claim to be members of the true vine, who is Jesus the Christ, don't actually appear to be connected to him or to the other branches via the vine. Consequently, they appear to bear little or no fruit. Jesus said, "No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me." (vs 4)
When we are connected to the vine, we are connected to that vine with other branches. Together, we bear much fruit. Alone we can do nothing. Or do you suppose the gardener, our Father, has cut off every branch besides our self? That would be a strange looking vine with only one branch and not very fruitful, at that.
Every branch needs the vine. Remain connected. Remain in the word that you might bear much fruit, showing that you are his disciple to our Father's glory.
God's Peace - Pr. J
My gardens have been a mess this summer. Very little time to care for them. My flower garden and raspberry bushes look especially unkempt. This is my fault. Much to my husband's chagrin, I have allowed a family of raccoons to eat, play and rest there. But, I do live in the woods and I figure they live there, too. No one hardly ever sees the garden beside me and I do enjoy watching the baby raccoons as much as I enjoy the flowers and raspberries. Consequently, I have had a lot of broken flower stems and broken raspberry branches to gather and burn. No, hollyhocks this year; they stand alone and when one is trampled it dies. But, there have been a lot of raspberries. It is as though they have been pruned; yet, not destroyed. After all; the branches of the raspberry bush do not stand alone. They are connected to one another.
Lately, I've been noticing that there seem to be a lot of another kind of branches not connected to the vine or at least they appear not to be. Maybe, I am mistaken. But, it does appear that many who claim to be members of the true vine, who is Jesus the Christ, don't actually appear to be connected to him or to the other branches via the vine. Consequently, they appear to bear little or no fruit. Jesus said, "No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me." (vs 4)
When we are connected to the vine, we are connected to that vine with other branches. Together, we bear much fruit. Alone we can do nothing. Or do you suppose the gardener, our Father, has cut off every branch besides our self? That would be a strange looking vine with only one branch and not very fruitful, at that.
Every branch needs the vine. Remain connected. Remain in the word that you might bear much fruit, showing that you are his disciple to our Father's glory.
God's Peace - Pr. J
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