John 15:5, 8

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing ~ John 15:5, 8

Along the driveway into the back of my apartment building there is a giant wall of vines that grow in the summer months. Some of those vines bear purple flowers, and others bear an orange trumpet flower. The leaves themselves are beautiful, but the addition of the flowers makes the wall of vines look like a beautiful painted picture. So, when we are connected to Jesus, we too make a picture. Our picture is a reflection of him, for we are united to him through faith. We, as a branch, are the boughs, the small tendrils which grow and shoot out from the parent stalk. Jesus compared our relationship to him in this same way, a union formed by believing on him. Our need of him rises up as dependence as we embrace him as our Saviour and God. As those little tendrils grow and soon form into a larger branch and a leaf, so we grow in him through our interests, our feelings, our common desires, and praise God, our common destiny with him. Our union is one of friendship, of love, a union of weakness and strength, of his power and our fallibility. Just like the vines on my property which bear different colours of flowers, so we all will blossom with our own colour under the grace of Jesus Christ. And, just as our fall leaves and the extended but dying branches were cut away in the autumn, so we will be cut away if we do not remain connected to him who is our source of life and sustenance. So, hold fast in your faith and hope, and let not the trials of this world turn you aside from the Truth. We then will continually receive from him the power to do good and bloom.  

Pastor Julia