We are the Branches

This is a passage I have had in my heart since I was a child. I had to memorize it in school and always thought the metaphor was interesting and beautiful. Last night I saw it in a new light.

The Vine and the Branches

1"I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes[a] so that it will be even more fruitful. 3You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4Remain in me, and I will 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 a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. 8This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. 9"As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. John 15:1-9 (New International Version)

Last night as a crawled into bed I read it again and it seems to me I had new eyes. I have never seen it like this before. I pictured in my mind Jesus as a huge vine with so many branches. Each one of us is a branch when we accept the Lord as our Savior. God the Father has His clippers though. He wants His vine to be fruitful- He is a skilled and good gardener! I want to be part of His garden. I don't want to be the branch that gets snipped off! I want to be covered with sweet fruit. I want to further His Kingdom, to spread His love and light, to be a spring that turns desert and wasteland into a fruitful garden. How do I do this? How do I do this when I am surrounded by this world? When I am tired, when I have so much to do, when all my children are crying and demanding all at once. Jesus said it. "Remain in Me." "Apart from me you can do nothing." Apart from His grace I can do nothing of eternal value. Fix me to you forever dear God and Savior.

New Name Love Name

A few Sundays ago our pastor spoke about how when we accept Christ, we wear His name. It's like we wear "Christ" on our chest. A few minutes later when I went into the nursery to pick up my girls, the Holy Spirit brought my eyes to the stickers stuck to their backs. Their new names were printed on them. Not their old ones that they were born with. Not the old life that they were born into with no father in poverty. No they have a daddy now that loves them so much he gave them his name to wear. The names we chose for them are blessing names, names that carry joy. Their birth names spoke of heaviness and grief.
What a picture of what Christ does for us when we accept Him. I get to wear His glorious, LOVE name.

Debt vs. Grace

What good news. We cannot work enough for salvation. We cannot be good enough. There is freedom in that. A pressure lifted off. If we could work for salvation then God would owe it to us. That negates grace. Salvation is a gift. When we believe on Christ then righteousness is given to us. Then everything we do is in love and out of gratefulness to God and love for God's creation. Not to become righteous. No we could never do that! God does that. Read Romans 4:1-8 carefully. Beautiful.

Romans 4:1-8

1 What then shall we say that Abraham our father has found according to the flesh? 2 For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. 3 For what does the Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” 4 Now to him who works, the wages are not counted as grace but as debt.

5 But to him who does not work but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness, 6 just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works:
7 “ Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven,

And whose sins are covered;
8 Blessed is the man to whom the LORD shall not impute sin.” (or in the Holman Christian Standard Version it says in verse 8: "How happy is the man whom the Lord will never charge with sin!"