Tropical Fruit - 7/28/06

John 15:4, "Remian 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. 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."

"Apart from me you can do nothing." How true is this! I am a broken person born of a sinful nature. Everything I attempt on my own or try to accomplish for my own selfish desires ends in failure. Without God, anything I try to pursue fails to deliver any sense of satisfaction - only a hollow longing for something else.

However, when I remain in Him - remain plugged in to the true vine, I barely even have to try and much fruit is produced in my life. Like in a true branch, His power flows into my life - meeting every true need and causing me to produce beautiful fruit to honor Him.

I don't want to make it sound like I have no troubles and live a carefree lifestyle - though in a sense I do. But, sometimes branches have to be cut back to produce good fruit. We rarely recognize this for what it is during the pruning process. That's why we need to just thank Him for trouble or hard times and always trust in Him. Then, when we see the fruit produced in our lives, it becomes clear why we endured what we did and can give Him glory for it. Everything is done for the same ultimate purpose - to give glory to God.

I am plugged in to my God, and for a season at least He has decided that my wife and I are going to produce tropical fruit for Him. He has called us to Belize to work for Him among His people there. Along the way, every need and want has been satisfied or addressed. The planning stage has gone so smoothly that it became clear only God could have orchestrated this process of relocation - right down to finding a home for our cat. We couldn't do it on our own, though we tried, and resolved to take him to a no-kill shelter full of abandoned cats - a safe but sad solution.

On our last day in Pullman, a woman from our church decided to take Sumo in and love him as an "only cat." I thought to myself, "How great you are, God! Why would YOU care about what happens to this crazy animal - enough to act on it and find a home for him before we leave?" As soon as that thought crossed my mind, another followed right behind it that was not my own,

"Because you do."

God loves me, and I'm plugged in to Him. If I'm a part of the vine, then my needs are His needs, my concerns and worries are also His - regardless of how small they may seem.

So trust in God! Get plugged in! Talk to Him every day! That's how He guides you and helps you produce big, ripe, juicy fruit.

Mango, anyone?