Tag: vine

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John Devotionals

Changing yourself?

John

When Christians struggle with sin in their lives, one thought often pops up in their minds. “I have to do better.”

It is of course good to want to be victorious over sin.

But that way of thinking can also be dangerous. It often leads to pride if you are “victorious.” Or it leads to discouragement when you’re not.

And so Jesus’ words are very important here. He says,

You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. (John 15:3)

If you believe Jesus is God’s Son, that he paid for your sins on the cross, and that his words are life, you are already clean in God’s sight. (John 7:68-69)

We don’t need to strive to change ourselves to make ourselves acceptable to him. We are already clean in his sight.

So what do we need to do then?

Simply remain in Jesus.

Walk with him, each day. Learn to listen to his voice. Through his Word. Through your times of prayer. And as he speaks, with your hand in his, take one more step forward.

Jesus doesn’t expect you to become perfect in one day. All he wants you to do is to take one more step forward. And as you do, you will bear fruit. You will change.

There’s no striving to change yourself. No beating yourself up when you fall. No pride in thinking that you are somehow changing yourself into a better person. Only walking, one step at a time, rooting yourself deeper into Jesus and his love.

So let’s meditate on Jesus’ words this week.

You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.

Remain in me, and I in you. Just as a branch is unable to produce fruit by itself unless it remains on the vine, neither can you unless you remain in me.

I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without me. (John 15:3-5)

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Philippians

What God is doing in us

Paul in prison

This letter that Paul wrote to the Philippians is one that is filled with joy, despite all the trials Paul was going through.

Paul was writing this in prison, probably from Rome, and yet time and again, you see the words “rejoice” and “joy” in this letter.

And one thing that gave him great joy was what God was doing in the lives of the Philippians. The church in Philippi was the first ever to be started in Europe.

It started when Paul met a wealthy woman named Lydia who feared God, but didn’t really know anything about Jesus. But when Paul preached the gospel to her, she and her family were saved.  (Acts 16:11-15).

Paul did have some problems there, however, getting thrown into prison. But even there, Paul made an impact, as through him, his jailer and the jailer’s family also became Christians.  (Acts 16:16-40)

That was the beginning of the church in Philippi. And that church became one of his main supporters in ministry.

And in their partnership with him in the gospel, he saw the good work God was doing in them. And so he wrote,

In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.  (Philipians 1:4-6)

One of the amazing things of the gospel of Christ is that it starts with grace and it ends with grace.

It is God who reached out to us to save us at a time when we had no thought of him. Through his grace, he pulled us out of filth of our sin and washed us clean by the blood of Jesus shed on the cross.

But God doesn’t stop there. He doesn’t just say to us, “Well, I cleaned you up. Now you’re on your own.”

Rather, Paul says that God continues to work in us even now, and will never stop working in us until we are made complete on the day that Jesus returns for us.

In what way is God working in us? Paul tells us through his prayer for the Philippians, saying,

And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ–to the glory and praise of God.  (9-11)

Paul prays here that the fruit of love, love for God and love for others, would abound more and more in our lives.

How does it grow? It grows as we come to know God better. As we understand more deeply how great his love is, it causes our own love to blossom, not only for God, but for those around us.

And as that happens, we start to understand just how God intends us to live. We start to make not only good choices, but the best choices. And as we do that, all of God’s fruit of righteousness starts to blossom in our lives.

But note what Paul says here:  this fruit of righteousness comes not from our own efforts to change. Rather, it comes as we are joined to him. Like Jesus said, he is the vine, we are the branches. Apart from him, we can do nothing.  (John 15:5)

So what do we get from this? Two things.

First, don’t get discouraged by the sin you still see in your life. God started a good work in you. It started at the cross. It continued as he called you and you responded to him. And God will continue working in you until you are complete.

Second, stay plugged in to Jesus. That is the key to change in your life. Not mere self-discipline or effort. But Jesus living his life in you.

And as he does, you will see more and more what God is doing in you to his glory…and to your joy.

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John John 15

Chosen to be fruitful

John

This is one of the most famous passages in the Gospels in which Jesus shows us a beautiful illustration of our relationship with God.

Here he calls himself the vine. In the Old Testament, Israel was referred to as a vine. They were to bear fruit for God so that the nations would see them and be drawn to God.

But through their disobedience they bore only bad fruit, and as a result, God brought judgment upon them. (Isaiah 5:1–7, Jeremiah 2:21)

So now Jesus doesn’t just call himself the vine, but the “true” vine. A vine whose fruit would not only draw people to God, but save them.

And Jesus tells us we are the branches to the vine. He tells us in verse 16,

I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. (John 15:16)

What does it mean to bear fruit? I think the first thing it means is the fruit of a changed life.

Paul, after talking about the kind of sinful life we once lived, tells us,

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self‑control. (Galatians 5:22–23)

In other words, if we are Christians, it should be evidenced in our lives. Our lives should be different from what they once were.

And as our lives change, we’ll see fruit in that we’ll start to make an impact on the people around us. People will see God himself in us, be drawn to him, and be saved.

That’s what God originally intended for Israel, and that’s what God intends for us now. Peter puts it this way,

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. (1 Peter 2:9)

You were chosen to be fruitful. Are you?