Release, Rest, RemainНамуна

Day 3

FALSE VINES

For years, I looked to success for my identity. When I failed, when I dropped the ball, or when I couldn’t keep up with my self-imposed expectations, my sense of worth crumbled.

That’s how false vines work. They give us just enough to make us think they’ll sustain us, but they wither under pressure. And yet we cling to them. Because they feel familiar. Because we’ve con­vinced ourselves that we need them. But in the end, they cannot give us the nourishment we need to survive.

But Jesus tells us that He is the true vine.

The disciples would have recognized this imagery immediately. In the Old Testament, Israel was often referred to as God’s vine, planted to bear fruit for His glory (Isaiah 5:1–7; Psalm 80:8–16). But Israel failed in this role. Time after time, the Israelites turned away from God, drawn to idols, false promises, and the ways of the world around them. As Jeremiah prophesied, “For my people have committed a double evil: They have abandoned me, the fountain of living water, and dug cisterns for themselves—cracked cisterns that cannot hold water” (Jeremiah 2:13, CSB).

Like the Israelites, we often trust in things that prom­ise life but leave us empty. Jesus, the true vine, is different. His life never runs dry. His love never fails. His strength is never insufficient. In John 15:1, Jesus is saying, “I am the fulfillment of everything Israel was meant to be. Where the old vine failed, I will not. I am the true, unchanging, life-giving source.”

He is calling us to a connection that never dries up. A love that never wavers. A source of life that never fails. To be nourished in that place, we have to release the things we’ve been drawing from that were never meant to sustain us.

The truth Jesus offers in John 15:1 is simple and stunning: You don’t need those things to live. You just need Me. He isn’t one vine among many. He is the Vine. The only one who won’t drain you dry. The only source who can truly sustain. And the invitation is open: Let go. Connect to Me instead.

What false vines have you relied on for identity, security, or meaning? What would it look like for you to release a false vine today and abide in Christ instead?