Staying connected in a disconnected World

Walking with Jesus every day

A reflection on John 15:1-8 (NIV)

Have you ever had that moment where you go to use your phone that’s been plugged in to charge, only to find that you hadn’t plugged it in properly?

Maybe that’s how you feel today. You feel like you are plugged into God, but there is no sense of God’s power at work in your life. Sometimes, our lives as followers of Jesus feel exactly like that. Daily, we are trying to be good, to be kind, to serve, but actually, we are doing so whilst running on empty. We are working so hard to do the Christian life, but we aren’t living it.

Jesus in John 15 gives us a comforting, yet challenging, invitation. He says:

I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.
John 15:1

Jesus isn’t just painting a nice picture of a garden; He is giving a way to live life that flourishes. The heart of this passage is the word remain, another word for this is abide. In the original language, it means to stay, to reside, to make your home. Jesus says:

Remain in me, as I also remain in you.
John 15:4

Think about the creation story, as we find it in Genesis. God created humanity to walk with Him in the garden. That was the original design, to remain together in true connection. But throughout the Old Testament, we see God’s people trying to find life from other sources. Be it in political power, in golden idols, or just in trusting in human strength.

But in Psalm 1, we are told that the person who meditates on [God’s] law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water. Psalm 1:2b-3 is a picture of how a constant connection with God equals life that can flourish.

When a branch is cut off from the vine, it doesn’t try harder to be green. It doesn’t worry about how it will produce grapes. It simply dies. As followers of Jesus, our biggest mistake is thinking that following Jesus is a series of things to do.

We think that if we read more, pray more, and volunteer more, we will grow. But that is not what Jesus points us to; He says that growth isn’t our job, but that the connection is. If we stay connected, the fruit will come.

However, Jesus introduces a person in this story who might scare us: the Gardener. Jesus says:

He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.
John 15:2

Many of us hear these words, or read them, and think that if we are not perfect, God is going to cut us off. But let us look closer at what Jesus actually points us to.

God the Father is the Gardener. When a gardener prunes, they do so because they love the plant they are caring for. They prune it to remove the dead weight and things that are preventing the plant from flourishing and reaching its full potential.

Have you ever been through a season that felt like a pruning? At the time, it didn’t feel great. But remember Paul’s words to the early Church in his letter to the Hebrews:

No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace.
Hebrews 12:11

In times of pruning, we must remember that God, the gardener, is not setting out to hurt you. He is instead preparing you for a greater harvest. So, trust the Gardener. He knows exactly what needs to go, so that what is truly important can grow.

If we abide and if we are pruned, what are we supposed to produce? Jesus tells us :

This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit…
John 15:8

We often think that the fruit we will produce should be greater success, reaching our dreams, or simply seeing all our troubles disappear overnight. But if we look at the rest of the New Testament, specifically Galatians 5:22-23, we see that the fruit Jesus speaks of is:

… love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
Galatians5:22-23

This is the life connected to Jesus. You cannot fabricate these things on your own. You cannot force yourself to be peaceful when your inner world is chaotic. But if you are connected to the Vine, the life of Jesus begins to flow out of you. When Jesus’ life is in you, His love, His joy, and His peace will show up in all that you are.

But, how do we do this? How do we remain in Jesus in a world that seems to be moving ever faster?

We need to start the day with the source of all life. Before checking our notifications, listening to the news or being distracted by what we need to get done today, spend a minute in the Word. Reading just one verse and allowing it to settle into your life. Is how we begin to remain connected to the Vine.

Then invite the Gardener in. When life gets difficult or hard, don’t run from God. Ask God the Father, as the Gardener, to prune your life where it needs to be. It might hurt in the moment, but the benefits are eternal!

Jesus’ promise to us is this:

If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
John 15:7

This is not a blank check for our own desires and greed, but the promise of what happens when we bring our lives into line with Him. When you are so close to the Vine that His desires become your desires, you will find yourself asking for the very things God wants to give you.

We are not called to be professional fruit-makers, but we are called to be branches that can bear God’s fruit. Let us be a people who are known not by how hard we work, but by how well we abide in Jesus.

Amen.