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Abide part 1: Reality Check

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“I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.” (John 15:1)

The disciples had just participated in the last supper with their beloved Master.  Now they walked with Him to the garden of Gethsemane, where He often went to pray.  As they walked the dusty streets up to their destination, they passed a vineyard.  Christ was soon to have the weight of the world on Him, and to Him, this was a last opportunity to reveal to them the Christian experience before He would be crucified, and He saw a perfect example in the analogy of a vineyard.  It is true - basically the whole Christian experience is packed into the first eight verses of John 15.  This is the first of an eight-part series on Abiding in Christ, based on this analogy that He showed to His disciples right before the most critical period in the history of the universe. 

Christ is the True Vine.  What is the purpose and function of a vine?  A vine is the source of everything that a branch needs -- life, water, and nutrients.  A vine is strong.  A vine does not hold back anything from its branches.  It just gives and gives and gives. 

The Father is the husbandman.  What does a husbandman do?  The husbandman takes care of the vineyard, prunes the branches, trains the branches to grow in a certain direction, and cuts off branches that have no fruit. 

God is the Creator and Caretaker of all things.  Not us.  Many times we think we know better or we think we can do things on our own.  However, it never works, because God is the Source of all Wisdom and the Source of all Power.  We are wholly dependent on Him for anything and everything.  With all we do, we can never even atone for one past sin.  No matter what we do and how hard we try, our righteousness is as filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6).  We are utterly weak and helpless without Him.  We can’t even continue breathing without Him sustaining us.  Honestly, we are nothing.  Just as ashes. 

We must remember we are nothing, because if we do not, we will always try to do things on our own, and consequently, we will fail again and again.  But when we do realize our utter weakness and connect ourselves to the Vine, amazing and wonderful things happen.  Christ says, “My strength is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9).  Christ is able to fill us with His life, and we receive of it, and in turn produce fruit for His storehouse. 
  

~Lilienne Stafford

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