What Trees Can Teach Us About God and His KingdomSample

Jesus is the vine, you are a branch

Jesus tells his disciples: “I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide” (John 15:16 ESV). They should keep his commandments and abide in his love… But how should they do that? Can they ‘bear fruit’ by themselves? Can they love God and others by themselves? No, clearly not.

Jesus explains that believers are like branches, dependent on the vine. “Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing”. A branch needs the vine for nourishment, water and support. A branch on its own just withers and is thrown away.

In the same way, a Christian needs a close relationship with Jesus for spiritual nourishment. Jesus urges us to “abide in me, and I in you”. We need a personal relationship of faith, obedience and joyful unity with our Lord and Savior. Only then can we bear fruit, and so glorify God with our lives. Moreover, living this way will cause our joy to be full (John 15:11). It is a fulfilled and blessed life, united with God forever. Someone living like that is “like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers” (Psalm 1:3 ESV).

Do you have such a personal relationship with Jesus? Do you “abide in him”?

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