The True Vine and the Branches: Go and Bear Fruit
Jesus gives us the parable of the True Vine and the branches in today’s Bible reading. He is the true Vine. And Believers are branches attached to the True Vine. The responsibilities of the branches are to stay connected with the Vine and let the life of the Vine flow through them. Union and Communion.
As long as a Believer stays in Union and Communion with the Vine, the life of the Vine produces fruit. Notice that the Vine produces the fruit through the branches. The branches simply bear fruit produced by the Vine.
Branches that are not attached to the Vine are gathered up and burned (John 15:6) because they take up space in the vineyard. But branches that are attached to the Vine, but aren’t bearing fruit are lifted up[1] (John 15:2) and given special attention so they can bear fruit. By raising up those branches, they are taken off the ground where the fruit was stepped on or stolen by a rodent or some other hungry animal.
Application
How’s your fruit-bearing? Do you bear the fruit produced by Jesus in your life?
Have you felt discouraged, just waiting for Jesus to come along and remove you from the vineyard? Rest assured that if you are still in union and communion with the Vine, you can never be cast aside. Instead, the Master Gardener will deal with you so that you can bear fruit.
Check your connection. Draw your life from the True Vine. And bear the fruit.
[1] Unfortunately, most modern English translations miss this key point, leading to a lot of confusion about the destiny of non-fruit-bearing branches that are still attached to the Vine. The Greek word means to raise up or to lift up, not to take away or to remove. The best rendering from a modern translation of John 154:2 is The Passion Translation: He cares for the branches connected to me by lifting and propping up the fruitless branches and pruning every fruitful branch to yield a greater harvest. John 15:2 (TPT)
* Chapters covered in today’s reading:
John 14
John 15
John 16
John 17
This updated devotional was originally published on November 2, 2019.
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