The Fruitful Branch
As we go through life, we tend to focus on our jobs and families, often adding everything else as an afterthought due to the busyness of our schedules. Even our families can get pushed aside as we strive to excel in our jobs to pay the mortgage, keep food in the cupboard, and purchase the next grown-up toy. Depending on your personality and interests, that toy could be games, motorcycles, boats, or tools—the list goes on. We also add our children’s sports, extracurricular activities, and vacations that add extra stress to our schedules and finances. And let’s not forget the pressure to get the latest electronic devices for every family member.
But did you notice none of that touched on God at all? Even if we are diligent about attending church, we don’t seem to focus our complete lives on Jesus. This is the persona of the American church.
We have the blessing of being children of the Lord Most High, yet we act like it’s just a given. We might even complain that God hasn’t fixed and blessed areas of our lives so we could have it as good as the Joneses. You may have experienced this with your own children—their friends’ parents buy them the newest phone, so why don’t you do the same? They get to watch certain shows, have those apps, or worse, Billy’s dad plays ball with him in the backyard! Why don’t you do the same for us?
It really comes down to foundation. What are we rooted in? What is our core objective in life with work, marriage, and family? Are we simply focused on our careers? That’s what society always seems to push. If that’s the case, then our spouse and family will never be important to us. God won’t be very important to us either. He definitely won’t be in the appropriate priority. We may put family first, but that generally means focusing on the kids and leaving out our spouse. Life becomes hard and frustrating.
So, how do we rewire our Americanized brains? How do we recreate our priorities, change our foundation, and root ourselves in the true, life-giving vine?
Jesus tells us He is the true vine. If our branch is not connected to the vine, we will simply be thrown away. That’s a scary, deep realization. Do we really want to get to the end of our lives and realize we’ve been kindling for the fire all those years?
This Sunday, we will be looking at John 15, the vine and the branch. You’ve probably read it several times, but do the words of Jesus penetrate your soul? Does the fruit of your life truly reflect good fruit, holy and pleasing to God? We are providing and caring for our families, but is it in the Lord, or are we simply doing what is expected of us? Does our role in our work, marriage, and family bring us joy, or are we just powering through?
I encourage you to be smitten by the love of Jesus this Sunday. Let yourself be replanted and grafted back into the vine of joy, peace, and blessings that is Jesus. Life doesn’t get less crazy, but your focus won’t be on the chaos. It will be on Him.
Mike Shamburg