“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” - John 15:5
Here we see Jesus describing Himself as ‘the vine’; His Heavenly Father as the tender of the vine. Jesus uses such imagery because in their culture growing grapes was widespread. From this we are to understand that it is Jesus who provides spiritual nourishment to His followers. It was readily understood that any branch that was cut from the vine would as a result wither and die.
I readily admit that without Christ I could do nothing of any eternal value. On our own we are nothing more than a faded and worn out piece of clothing, but with Christ in us we have life. It is our responsibility to allow the Holy Spirit to cultivate in us fruitful tendencies. God didn’t pay our sin debt so we could go on living as we choose; we are expected to take our walk with Him seriously. Rejoice in the fact that Jesus paid for all our sins and then live a fruitful life honoring Christ by being a blessing to those you encounter each day.
