The amazing journey of life begins in a mother’s womb. Expectant parents monitor the growth and development of their baby on a weekly basis. At week five, the baby’s heart beats for the first time. At week 12, you may feel your baby fluttering and it is kicking you. A foetus is nourished in the mother’s womb through its umbilical cord. The umbilical cord serves as a lifeline for the foetus. If the umbilical cord was cut off while the baby is still inside the mother, it would be life threatening and instant death for the baby.

Likewise, a branch bears fruit when it is connected to the vine. The source for the branches to bear fruit comes from the vine. The gardener takes care of the vine by cutting off branches that are not fruit bearing and he prunes the branches that are fruit bearing, so that it bears more fruit. If the branches were cut off from the vine, they will not bear fruits and will soon wither away, dry up and will be thrown into the fire, to be burnt.

Jesus is providing us an illustration of a vine, to emphasise our relationship with Him and the Heavenly Father, in John 15: 1-8, as follows.

JOHN 15:1-8 (NIV)

1 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.

2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.

3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.

4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.

7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.

8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

Jesus is the True vine, not any ordinary vine, but the one and only ‘real’ vine. He calls us his branches. We can be branches only if we are connected to Him. When we are disconnected we are no more branches, but ordinary wood that has no fruit bearing potential and is fit only to be burnt in the fire.

Our relationship with Jesus must be a definite connection. It cannot be a temporary or a causal relationship, because such a relationship does not bear any fruit. Our relationship with our Heavenly Father is of the Gardener, and the gardener cuts off branches that are not bearing fruit and throws them into the fire of hell. We know that hell is a place of separation from God. Hell is also a place of unimaginable suffering. If a person does not belong to the True Vine, Jesus Christ, that person is condemned to hell, like the discarded branch.

The gardener also prunes those branches that bears fruit, to enable it to bear more fruits. Pruning is a process of trimming and cutting away dead or overgrown stems, to encourage growth. Pruning can be a painful process, since it involves cutting and trimming away unwanted stems. Likewise, in our lives, our Heavenly Father trains and corrects us, so that we humble ourselves and become more abiding in the vine and depend on the vine to bear more fruits. God’s grace helps us shed off things that do not represent Christ in us; every negativity, pride, sin; so that we become more like Christ and bear even more fruits.

The important thing to note is that a branch does not produce fruit by itself, but it bears fruits by remaining connected to the vine. Similarly, we do not produce fruit by human efforts, but rather by being in a relationship with God. Fruits show the results in our lives, and our results are not due to our arduous work and labour, but our fruits are borne through our relationship with Jesus Christ. The stronger our relationship is with Him, the more fruits we will bear.

Galatians 5:22,23 (NKJV) But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.

Jesus greatly emphasises on ‘abiding in Him’ because without Him, we can do nothing. John 15:5 (NASB) “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.” We have a tendency of going our own way, trying to be independent, but our lifeline, our salvation is in being connected to God; For without God, it’s impossible to be saved and to live a life pleasing to God. A Christian life is not an independent life apart from God, but rather, it is a life that is constantly dependent on God.

How does one remain in God? We remain in God by obeying Him, by fulfilling His will, His word and the more we obey Him, the more fruits we bear. If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love (John 15:10 NIV).

We know that the more fruits we bear the more our Heavenly Father is glorified. Therefore, let us strive to abide in Jesus and become more like Him every day.

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