Burst Forth!

Jesus said to his disciples: I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. – John 15:1 cev

After I adopted my puppy, Angel, from my sister, I spent quite a bit of time in our back yard. When I first stood outside with her, the woods in our back yard looked dead. I had a rose bush by the deck that looked as if it would never bloom again.

But after a couple of weeks, I noticed the base of the rose bush began to turn green. The trees that looked lifeless budded and covered over with tiny leaves. The complexity of God’s creation amazed me.

When Jesus walked the earth, he used practical applications to teach, sometimes using the things of nature as examples. In John 15:4-5 Jesus said, “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.”

Are you connected to the true vine? We receive life from the Vine. Angel runs through the yard picking up dead branches. Without God, we are like those branches. I want to be alive and blooming in the Lord. I want to grow and develop the fruit of the Spirit.

In Jeremiah 20, Jeremiah said that God’s Word was like a burning fire that was shut up in his bones. It literally burst forth from him like a fire out of control. I don’t want to be a dead, dried up Christian, but a Christian who bursts forth with the message of Christ.

As you look around and see all the beautiful flowers and trees budding with new life, purpose in your heart that the Good News of God’s grace should burst forth from you!

Prayer: Lord, I praise you, and long to be connected to you in a deeper way. Thank you for sustaining me. In Jesus’ Name I pray, Amen.