AbideSample

Jesus the True Vine and the Father, the Master Gardener

I admire people with a green thumb and a knack for cultivating flourishing plants at home. I, for one, don’t have a natural ability for keeping green things alive. Plants need attention—tomatoes need cultivation, and herbs need the right conditions for them to grow. Most plants that wither and die at home do so because of one simple common denominator: neglect.

This looks like not giving the time and attention needed for watering and removing old leaves, or failing to provide the right amount of sunlight and proper placement within the home. Many of us think keeping a plant alive doesn’t require much, but its health is based upon our availability and attention to it. This statement can also be applied to our relationship with God—it is a basic spiritual truth.

We live in a world where many statements and ideas boast the claim that their words, no matter how false or twisted, are rooted in truth. However, Proverbs 1:7 (NLT) says:

“Fear of the Lord is the foundation of true knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline.”

We can trace each sapling of every worldly idea to its root, and see that they come not from a foundation rooted in the belief of God, but from an idea spurred by antichrist, anti-God systems of thinking, arguments, and empty talk.

When Jesus says He’s the true vine, He’s personifying Himself as the main root—the essential crux to life. When you get to the root of the vine of Christ, not only is the evidence of life in Him, but you find that He alone is the source of the flourishing we desperately seek.

Now, the Master Gardener comes and inspects this growing vine. He masterfully tends to it, surveying new growth and removing branches that are not producing fruit as they should. These fruitless branches can birth disease within the vine and hinder new growth. The Master Gardener turns to the branches that are producing and prunes them back to prepare for even more growth.

Why? The Master Gardener knows what each individual branch can grow and how much it can carry. In every season, it produces its harvest as it is connected to the Vine.

There’s so much significance in remaining in Jesus and understanding the ways of the Father—how He inspects and tends to the branches has everything to do with our very own lives.

Let Him.