Have you ever been in a large forest when the trees are fighting each other for space and light? Where the tress struggle with one another to get the nutrients and water it needs from the soil around it? Inside a forest like that you might see enormous vines hanging down from the tree limbs.
If you look closely, you can see that each one of the vines sends off branches which wind their way up out of the ground and around the trunk of a tree until they reach a point where the vine's weight is too much for it to keep growing upwards. So the branches turn and continue to grow back down to the ground.
The cool thing is that once they are within reach of the ground, they make a swing strong enough to hold a full grown man up. Although, if you find the main vine from which the smaller vines are shooting off and cut it, eventually the other vines connected to it will also die and the swing that you love will eventually break away. It's life sustaining force, the vine that was rooted in the nutrient rich soil, can no longer feed and it will eventually wither and die.
Our relationship with Jesus is much of the same. When we are in communion with fellow believers and a local church, our lives are connected to the Lord. Our ability to live and thrive comes from the vine, that is, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We have to stay connected to Christ not only to live but to become for others what we were created to be in the first place.
This morning, I found myself in the woods for a brief moment and I looked around at the trees and the vines and I was inspired to write about the vine and our connection to the Lord. When I am not connected to Jesus or to His body the Church then I will wither and die from lack of the life sustaining force that I need. We are the branch and He is the vine. The continued connection to Him is necessary for eternal life and for us to fulfill our purpose.
"I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing." John 15:5
If you look closely, you can see that each one of the vines sends off branches which wind their way up out of the ground and around the trunk of a tree until they reach a point where the vine's weight is too much for it to keep growing upwards. So the branches turn and continue to grow back down to the ground.
The cool thing is that once they are within reach of the ground, they make a swing strong enough to hold a full grown man up. Although, if you find the main vine from which the smaller vines are shooting off and cut it, eventually the other vines connected to it will also die and the swing that you love will eventually break away. It's life sustaining force, the vine that was rooted in the nutrient rich soil, can no longer feed and it will eventually wither and die.
Our relationship with Jesus is much of the same. When we are in communion with fellow believers and a local church, our lives are connected to the Lord. Our ability to live and thrive comes from the vine, that is, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We have to stay connected to Christ not only to live but to become for others what we were created to be in the first place.
This morning, I found myself in the woods for a brief moment and I looked around at the trees and the vines and I was inspired to write about the vine and our connection to the Lord. When I am not connected to Jesus or to His body the Church then I will wither and die from lack of the life sustaining force that I need. We are the branch and He is the vine. The continued connection to Him is necessary for eternal life and for us to fulfill our purpose.
"I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing." John 15:5
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