Branching out in Christ

“I Am the Vine. You are My branches. If you remain in Me, and I in you, you’ll produce much fruit. But apart from Me, you can do nothing,” John 15:5.

As I read several of the many translations of John 15:5 on Bible Gateway, I noticed that the nouns remained the same: Vine, branches, fruit.

The verbs changed a bit, telling us to either abide or remain and then to produce or bear fruit. But, regardless of the synonyms chosen for a particular translation, the thought remains the same:

Jesus is the Vine.

We, however, are not leaves who leave Him, nor are we leaves that turn colors and fall, lifeless, to the ground, leaving a mess for someone else to rake up!

Jesus is the Vine.

We are the branches.

A healthy, well-attached branch grows, expands, and becomes fruitful, but a puny or broken branch that severs itself from the main vine accomplishes the same thing in every translation:

Nothing.

Without Jesus as the base, the core, the root of our lives, nothing we do will be effective in advancing the Kingdom of God.

Jesus is The Vine.

We are The Branches who need to stay ready to branch out! May our lives continue to abide in Christ, growing spiritually and remaining ever fruitful for Him.


Mary Harwell Sayler, ©2017

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