Where Is The Power In Abiding In The Vine?

Think also of what could have happened to you, had God not intervened, and brutally pruned you so. Yes I am sure it was painful, but you must think on how it could have turned out had God not intervened. Amen to that.

Have you ever noticed also, that even in times of achievement, God sometimes intervenes again, and brings you to your knees midstream. Everything is going well, then stop, nothing, it all dies away. I find that very soul destroying, but I am beginning to relate that to God pruning, where he cuts away healthy branches, so that more may grow in their place.

When God stops you from doing something that you think is achieving, it is only to prepare you for something bigger, and better; and he does so to make you stronger, and produce more, so take heart.

And so, if you are going through a time of such trial just now, keep in mind that God knows what he is doing, he has never failed yet. He is guiding you through love, guiding you for your own good, so that you can produce good fruit later on, for him. Achievement is not about you, and what you want; it is about God, and what he wants; and fortunately he does align our desires with his, if we remain in His vine.

Now this passage of scripture is very familiar to us and it is good to refresh our memories by its meaning, however if we had read the next few verses, we could add a further dimension to that message.

Let me show you, Verse 9 goes on to say “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 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. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.”

What Jesus is saying is clear, that we as disciples should receive (or take), our strength from Jesus; as he is our true vine.

We cannot love another as Jesus commands until we first learn from Jesus what love actually is, so that we can then love others in the same way.

I will need to explain this; please excuse the English lesson here but this is needed to make sense. “Love” can be either a transitive or intransitive verb. An intransitive verb is one where the subject is also the object of the verb. So for example, if someone says, “I love you” they tend to be talking about their own feeling towards you; and they are really saying, “I am experiencing feelings of love for you,” but you, on the other hand, may not be feeling much love from them.

So, in order for love to be a intransitive verb, then the one who is loved must experience the love also. “I love you” therefore means that I am behaving in such a way that I am kindling the love within you. Yes, no, let us take an analogy of food.

If I were to say, “I will feed you” that would mean in the transitive verb, I am giving you food to eat so that you will be nourished.

So if I was to say that “I love you”, this would translate by saying “I am giving you something that nurtures the love within you”; and this is what John means when he says that “words without deeds are empty lies”. Love needs to express itself in behaviour, which in turn brings out the love in the other person.