Growth Doesn’t Happen Without Connection

With spring upon us, what a great time of year to enjoy the growth that the earth experiences as plants grow and bloom. A wonderful demonstration of how amazing God's creation is!

This is a great time for us to refresh and reflect on our faith and spiritual journey. It also reminds us of a meaningful verse that Jesus shared with his disciples:

“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 NIV

In winemaking, grape growers say the deeper the roots, the better the fruit. When caring for the vines, too much water and nutrients can create a big vine and canopy, but poor fruit. Only through stress and hardship does the plant extend its root system deep into the soil. Interestingly, growers will intentionally create environments with stress on the plants. For example, they may control irrigation so that roots compete for nutrients, or prune and thin the plant to focus its energy on producing good fruit rather than on leaves and the vine.

Do you ever feel like a grape vine? Working hard to bear great fruit, but consistently navigating stress and challenges? Interesting the relationship there. God allows a certain amount of stress in our lives to keep us from becoming complacent, but He never gives us more than we can handle when we trust in Him.

Alternatively, maybe we are feeling pretty good right now. Your vine is growing strong and bearing great fruit. Praise God, let us keep up the great work! However, we must be careful. In our experience, when things are good, it can be easy to get comfortable. We might become so comfortable that we turn our focus to the pleasures of the world and lose sight of bearing fruit for Jesus.

Interestingly, John 15:5 came up in our Seven24 group devotion this past week, in connection with Rick Warren's book, The Purpose Driven Life. Using the vine analogy, Rick discusses one of our purposes in life: being part of God's family.

“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” 1 John? 3:1 NIV

Being a part of God's family brings a rich inheritance unlike anything we could imagine. Through blessings on earth, but more importantly, the blessing of eternal life in heaven with GOD.

Let’s keep that perspective as we tackle another week.