27^th February

“I am the true grapevine and My Father is the gardener”. . . . .“Yes I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in Me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from Me you can do nothing.””

John 15:1,5

Jesus in John chapter 15, gives us a picture of the vine tree as a symbolism of our position in Him. Jesus explains that He is the vine and we are the branches. The Father is the gardener and sustainer of the tree. The Father prunes the branches so that they will produce more fruit and cuts of the dead branches that don’t produce fruit. Yet the source of a tree’s fruit never comes from the branches itself, but the nutrients that are absorbed by the root of the tree. Jesus again alludes to this and reminds us ‘that we can do nothing apart from Him’. If we want to produce fruit in our lives, then we need to stay connected to the source, to Jesus Christ.

Although this is a simple illustration of who we are in Jesus, Jesus highlights again and again throughout this analogy, that we need to remain in Him. The fruit we produce is love, peace, joy, and patience. It’s kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control. The great truth of the tree analogy is that we produce fruit that mirror Jesus’ character. The more we feed from Him, the more we grow in Him, the more we become like Him and produce fruit that shows Jesus through our lives. Remain in Jesus. Feed on and grow in Jesus. Remain in Him!