John 15:1-8
Jesus wants us to abide in Him as a parasite lives off of blood. We, as branches, can not survive with out the vine. Right? You don’t just see branches floating around producing fruit or being useful. Imagine going to the orchard to pick apples. When you get there, you get your parking spot. You go up to the counter to get your empty bushel. The lady at the counter tells you it’s going to be a rough day picking apples because it’s windy. You go down into the orchard and find the kind of apples you like. Only there are no trees. Just branches floating around violently because of the wind. You’re gonna take a beat down trying to pick some apples. You get the picture. Let’s overlap that picture with a church that doesn’t abide in God. It’s the same thing. How can we expect the church to be relevant to the world around us if we are not connected to the Father? The vine that feeds life into all of us unbiasedly. It would create confusion for all who see. We want desperately to be in a position or used in the church building. All the while, God our Creator wants us to be useful outside the church building.
When we abide in God, we are at a place of contentment and peace that goes beyond understanding. We will recognize our sonship or daughtership as the most valuable treasure we can imagine.
Matthew 13:44
When Christianity becomes performance based, it becomes a religion. If I do this or do that, God will accept me. That’s slavery. We need to throw off those chains of way of thinking.
