“If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love.” John 15:10
May 31, 2023
Flourishing and growing in the faith is the way Christ wants us to live. Jesus’ upper room challenge to His disciples is about fruit bearing. He is not threatening them with the danger of losing their relationship to the Vine (Christ). God the Father is the Vinedresser. Jesus is the true Vine. The disciples of Jesus are the branches. Bearing fruit is exhibiting Christlikeness. Pruning is being subjected to trials. Sometimes trials come as a means of disciplining us when we are unrepentantly disobedient. But not all trials are because we who belong to Christ are disobedient. We are always loved by Jesus, but it takes difficulties in life (pruning) to teach us, refine us, and remove obstacles to growth. We will have a different attitude toward trials when we are confident that God is at work in them. Perhaps you are in such a time in your walk with Christ. Draw on Christ’s strength. Ask God for the insight needed to learn from your present difficulties (Jas. 1:5).
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“Suffering so unbolts the door of the heart, that the Word hath easier entrance.” Richard Baxter