There are times when my view of things is challenged, and I am forever grateful. Discovering this new insight was one of those times. To set the stage, John 15:1 reads, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.” The Father and the Son are a team. Together they are the source of heathy, heavenly living here on earth. Jesus demonstrated to His disciples again and again that He stayed in close communication with His heavenly Father. Now He is urging His followers, and us, to do likewise. And now for the nugget of insight…
“Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He “takes away.” The word used here is Airo and in the Greek it means to “take up” or to “lift up”. It was used when the disciples “took up” twelve baskets of food after feeding the five thousand (Matthew 14:20). And used again when John the Baptist called Jesus the Lamb of God who “takes away” the sins of the world (John 1:29).
Some Bibles render “takes away” as “cut off” in John 15 and that is an unfortunate interpretation rather than a clear translation.
Bruce Wilkenson shares how he got some great insight on this verse at a pastor’s conference from a gentleman who owned a vineyard.
“New branches have a tendency to trail down and grow along the ground. But they don’t bear fruit down there. When branches grow along the ground, the leaves get coated in dust. When it rains they get dusty and mildewed. The branch become sick and useless.”
Wilkenson asked, “What do you do? Cut it off and throw it away?
“Oh, no!” he exclaimed. “The branch is much too valuable for the. We go through the vineyard with a bucket of water looking for those branches. We lift them up and wash them off. Then we wrap them around the trellis or tie them up. Pretty soon they are thriving.”
Dr. Wilkenson said that as the vinekeeper described this process, he could see the Lord Himself “lifting up” the fallen branches, cleaning them off and helping them to flourish again.”
Has the discouragement of the world and the day-to-day battle caused you to fall down? Do you need to be lifted up? The Lord is ready. Let Him.
Lovin’ Jesus and You,
Linda Newton
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