Today’s Daily Light
Summary Insights From Our Study … The Search For Significance, by R. McGee
We Must Remain ‘In” the VINE
John 15: 1-4, Jesus said “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. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.”
A branch produces fruit by allowing the water and nutrients from the vine to flow through it. The fruit is the natural, spontaneous expression of a healthy branch.
Hebrews 13:15 says that a sacrifice of praise to God is “the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name.” Galatians 5:22-23 says that “the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” – elements of Christian character. Throughout the New Testament and the history of the church, we see another fruit of those who follow the Holy Spirit to produce the love and power of Christ in their lives: the salvation of many people.
God may prune us by allowing us to experience troubles and difficulties, sickness, failure, or reproof from either Christians or non-Christians.
A branch can’t bear fruit if it is cut off, contracts a disease, is eaten by insects, is placed in poor environmental conditions, and so forth.
Our Christian life can be hindered if our love for Christ grows cold, if we developed an inordinate desire for worldly pleasures, if we sought to gain the approval of others, if we tried to gain our significance from success, if we couldn’t experience the wealth of God’s love and power, or if we pursued a life of abject disobedience.
In your work in this summary of insights…consider the Holy Spirit’s purpose to glorify Christ (John 16:14); what the Holy Spirit can produce in one’s life; and what could hinder the branch from producing fruit and the thirsty person from experiencing the rivers of living water (John 7:38).
Friends…I pray that we will be constantly aware that we are connected to Jesus the True and Only Vine. I pray that we will feel His ‘river of life’ working inside our spirit man as it supplies us nourishment and feeds us. I pray that we will present ourselves before the Father to be pruned ‘so that’ we will bear more fruit. Amen