Bearing Fruit

John 15:1-8  “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.

5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. 8 By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.

I am currently trying to put the Christmas tree up. First the base went missing. We found that and assembled the tree. Then it was time for the lights to go on. Fortunately I went against tradition and tested to see if the lights worked after I had them on the tree. And. Nothing. Not even a little spark of life. This is rather frustrating as I just want to put the tree up. I haven't had a chance to do it in the last 2 weeks because things have been crazy busy.

As I type this my husband is going through each light to see which one isn't working and causing the rest of the string to go on strike. So far they all seem fine. The test meter is coming out to check which part of the string of lights is failing.

It got me thinking about our own lives. We are like those strings of lights. Sometimes there is something in our life that God needs to be pulled out an examine or throw out. 

In John 15:1-8 Jesus tells us that He is the true Vine and the Father is the Vinedresser. We are the branches. Every branch is examined to see if they are bearing fruit. If we do not bear fruit what good are we to the Vine, Vinedresser, ourselves? We are the body of Christ and we need to be bearing fruit. When fruit is evident in our lives the Father sees it but does not leave us producing the same amount of fruit. He prunes us and allows us to go through suffering, trials and difficult times so that we may bear more fruit.

The good news is that Jesus goes on to say that if we continue to abide in Him we bear much fruit. This tells me that when I go through these tough times I need to be closer to Christ. That when I press in to Him and abide or live in Him then I bear much fruit for without Him I can do nothing. Those that do not stay close to Christ will wither. They will have no strength to draw from and they will dry up and become like kindling.

If we stay plugged in and have the broken lights replaced and we are wired correctly we will shine brightly.

If you are going through some tough times, struggles or suffering today know that Jesus is with you. You are a branch that needs the True Vine and He is right there for you while you go through this. He also knows that if you don't go through this time you will still be you but no different. Going through these things makes you stronger not weaker. It grows you and does not stunt you. That in your current weakness you are made strong in Christ and that in this time you may feel like you need to climb a tree to be able to see what is happening but God sees and will raise you up out of that tree and give you stature in your work and in all of your life.