Are You Connected?
Have you ever set your phone on a wireless charger and come back to it only to find it has not charged? I have and it’s very aggravating…I know it has connected when I lay my phone on the charger and my phone displays a screen with the time until it’s fully charged. I guess sometimes, I’m either too busy or too tired to check to make sure it has connected. Our culture has gotten to where we rely on our phones every day, some just for fun or staying in touch with friends and family, but for others, it’s a lifeline to their job; so, staying charged is vital.
A few weeks ago, in our SIS (Sisters Impacting Sisters) bible study, we were starting a study on the fruits of the Spirit, however, Bethany thought that we must first go over the parable of the vine and the branches. This teaching in John 15 tells us that Jesus is the vine and we are the branches and in order to produce fruit, we must stay connected with Him. It was here that she mentioned the similarity of our phones and how the only way we can work or play on our phone is for it to remain connected to its power source.
As a born-again believer, your power source is Jesus. In order to stay powered up, we must remain in Him. This parable also teaches us that God is the gardener and He prunes the branches, both the ones that bear no fruit and those that do so that they can bear more fruit. The pruning season can be uncomfortable some times, but it is just a season and just as a gardener would prune a tomato bush to make it more lush and hearty, producing many tomatoes, God prunes the things away from us that keep us from Him, so that we may produce more fruit.
A several years ago, my mother-in-law gave me a lemon tree. Two years ago, it produced its first lemon…yep, that first year I got just one, but it was beautiful. Last year, I had three, but for some reason, they all fell off before they were ripe. I hope this year, I can expect a better harvest. It is God’s desire for us to bear much fruit, not just some here and there. The only way for that to happen is to stay fully attached to Him who is the natural spring of all things we need in our daily life to be pleasing unto the Father. When we remain in Him, we can expect to produce, in abundance, the fruits of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23)