I love flowers. However, I was not blessed with the gift of a green thumb. Every once in a while, I will allow myself to splurge and buy myself fresh flowers. I bought some on sale after Mother’s Day recently and they were gorgeous and brought a smile to my face. A beautiful bouquet of green, purple, white, and magenta. But do you know what happened? They started to die. In fact, they started to die the minute they were cut from their source of life.
John 15:5 says “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without me, you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me, he is cast out as a branch, and is withered; and they gather them, and throw them into the fire, and they are burnt.
If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this, my father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be my disciples.”
Like the freshly cut flowers, which were beautiful for a time, but because they were cut from the source of their life, they will wither and die. Just as a branch (you and me) that is not on the vine of God, who is not abiding in God, may be beautiful for a bit, but cannot continue to bear fruit once it is cut from the vine.
We cannot continue to bear fruit when we are not connected to Jesus. When we are connected to Jesus, we will ask what we desire, and it will be God’s desire, and it will be done for us, and God ultimately will be glorified because of it.
We must also understand when we are still connected to God He will prune things from our life. Some may not be good things by our standards, and some may be what we consider good, but yet He’s pruning those away so we can bear more fruit for Him. God prunes, so we continue to grow, and ultimately so He can be glorified above all.
My question to you today is what choice are you going to make? Are you going to choose to continually come back and abide in your Father moment after moment even in the hard times? Even when you can’t see what is ahead? Even when you have no idea how things are going to work out? Will you choose to stay connected to the true source of life?
I get the struggle here. I still cannot see past today. I have no idea how some things in my life are going to work out, but I’m going I trust and I’m going to abide in my Father. I’m going to just love and serve others as He calls me too and watch Him blow my socks off and see others glorify Him because of it.
My prayer for you would be you choose to abide as well, and God blesses you and blows your socks off with what He will do in your life too.
Let’s Pray:
Father God,
I have no idea what lies ahead. I do know when I attempt life on my own, I lose the joy and strength in life You provide. I can do nothing without you. I want to stay connected to You, my true source of life. I choose today to abide in You, to walk with You, and to point everyone I encounter to You through the life You allow me to live. I love You and I thank You for what You have done and what You will do.
In Jesus’ Name,
Amen
© 2023 Susan M. Clabaugh with Encouragement in Daily Living LLC
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