I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower.
He takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit
Jesus is the source of our ability to bear fruit, but he is not a guarantee that we will bear fruit. He wants us to remain in him. The fact that he encourages us to do so implies that the contrary possibility also exists. When we refuse to bear fruit, when we refuse to share the love and mercy we ourselves first receive, we may have the appearance of being Christians, of being united to the vine, without actually being so. If we refuse to let his life flow through us so as to bear fruit the Father will ultimately ratify what we have already in fact decided by removing us from the vine.
So, why not just take the easy way out and bear fruit? But it turns out this path is not without difficulties. We must submit ourselves to regular pruning in order to direct ever more of our energies toward those things which are life-giving rather than on dissipation and distraction. But when we are used to expending our lives toward certain ends it is not a comfortable process to have those aspects of ourselves pruned. The temptation might be to say that fruit isn't worth the trouble of the continuous process of purification it apparently requires. We can experience a life free from the annoyance of outside interference if we simply refuse to cooperate with the vine grower. But such a life is actually not a life, since it is disconnected from Jesus who is the source of life. But if we remain in Jesus, even though it may seem difficult at times, even though the pruning process might often feel overwhelming, we will bear fruit. It isn't that we have to achieve a certain level of skill ourselves. We just need to submit and let it happen even when our flesh rebels and we are tempted to withdraw.
Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit,
because without me you can do nothing.
It may at first seem like there are some things we can do without Jesus. But are there really? Without him holding us in existence we cannot even take our next breath. Apart from Jesus all we can do is embrace the illusory reality of sin, doing non-things that accomplish nothing real. Our responsibility is to let Jesus do his work within us. The more we become aware of this work he is doing the more we will have the choice between embracing it or refusing it. As Christians who know our faith and have heard these words of his we have been given much indeed. And to whom much is given, much is expected.
If you remain in me and my words remain in you,
ask for whatever you want and it will be done for you.
The more we concede to the work of Jesus within us the more aligned we will become to his larger plan for the world. We will become more effective in choosing to cooperate with him. It will become more and more true that we only want what he wants. And that is when miracles happen.
John Michael Talbot - I Am The Vine



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