Abide

In my experience, when it seems the Lord is trying to get my attention about a particular issue, the same Scripture verse seems to appear EVERYWHERE! Maybe I’m just hyper-sensitive to it as well, but I choose to believe the Lord has something He’s wanting to teach me through the words found in John 15:5, specifically the word “abide”.

My word for 2020 is “BE” so I’ve been focusing on what it means to be still and know that He is God as Psalm 46:10 says. When I chose that word in January, I had no idea that just a couple of months later our crazy, busy life of “doing” would come to a screeching halt as we literally would have no other choice but to just “be”. While I must admit I’ve enjoyed this slowed down pace of life with my family and being encouraged to stay home due to the Covid-19 pandemic, my mind has been racing with a million “what-ifs”. Trying to “be still” and “abide” in Christ has been difficult at times if I’m being honest.

I am broken hearted as I realize that this Saturday I should be leaving for a mission trip to Dominican Republic with some of my students, fellow teachers, friends and my daughter. I was so looking forward to experiencing this mission trip through her eyes as it would be her first time serving internationally. One of the verses we had chosen to focus our attention on as we prepared for this trip was John 15:5. We knew it was so important for us to focus on abiding in Christ if we had any intentions of bearing fruit on this trip. We recognized that apart from Christ we can do nothing. Sadly we had to cancel this trip as a result of the pandemic, but I’ve continued to mull this verse over in my mind daily.

I recently listened to a new book by Beth Moore entitled Chasing Vines in which she describes the imagery of the vine as used throughout scripture. Of course, she talked about this passage of Scripture in this book in great detail, drawing out crucial details from the surrounding verses in John 15. If we back up to verses one and two of this chapter, Jesus is reminding his disciples that he is the true vine and they are the branches. Like a master gardener, he prunes the branches that bear fruit in order that they may bear more fruit. Pruning, in the metaphorical sense, is never an enjoyable process, but the Lord is always faithful to bring about new growth in our lives in the same way a plant that has been pruned will continue to grow and thrive.

Last spring, Brian ordered some peony bulbs to plant in our yard because he knows how much I love them. Granted we are not what you would called the best gardeners…in fact most of what we plant ends up dying, but I digress. We planted these little bulbs and as they started to sprout, Brian put little cages around them to remind him that they were there when he was weed-eating. Well, despite his valiant efforts to protect these plants, he still managed to accidentally whack one down and we figured we would just be down one plant. Until just the other day, when we looked out and realized not only had the aforementioned hacked down plant come back, but it had grown higher than all of the others! This accidental pruning turned out to be beneficial for this little plant and had caused new growth!

I’ve been reading through a chronological Bible for the past year and a half and guess where I ended up just last week? You guessed it…John 15! In this chapter Jesus is speaking to his disciples just before his arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane, yet they are applicable to those of us who are His modern day followers as well. Again, the reminder that Jesus is the true vine, we are the branches. He prunes the branches that are bearing fruit so they may be more fruitful, and those that do not bear fruit are thrown into the fire..(ummm…yikes!). When we bear fruit it shows we are his disciples but we must focus on the most important part of this passage….apart from Jesus, the true vine, WE CAN DO NOTHING.

On Sunday, my pastor (Craig McAdams) delivered a powerful sermon in the midst of this worldwide crisis on the topic of rejoicing. One of the passages of scripture he referenced was John 15:5 (ok…I get it Lord!) and he said “sometimes God has to remind us that we are not the vine, we are just a branch and apart from him we can do nothing.” We are incapable of producing the fruits of the spirit listed in Galatians 5:22 (love, JOY, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness and self-control) on our own if we are not connected to the true vine, Jesus.

In these uncertain days head may we abide in Christ and continue to recognize the following things:

• Some of the difficult things we are dealing with right now may be God’s pruning in our lives in order that we might bear more fruit and glorify Him.
• We must stay connected to Jesus, the true vine by spending time in His word and in prayer. For me this means spending less time watching and reading news that is only going to cause me to fear (not a fruit of the Spirit by the way)…God does NOT give us a spirit of fear (2 Timothy 1:7). When we are connected to him we will bear much fruit so that He is glorified, even in the most difficult circumstances.
• Recognize that apart from Christ, we can do NOTHING on our own!
• When circumstances are completely out of our control, we can rest in the fact that Jesus IS in control and all we have to do is ABIDE.