Growing up, my mother had these beautiful rose bushes growing alongside the house. She also had tulips and irises on the other side. I loved watching them grow. Everyday I would check the roses to see how they were doing. I didn’t want to miss the day they bloomed. Even as an adult, I find joy in watching spring come to life all around me.
Quite often, my siblings and I would cut some of those roses to present to our mother as a gift. She would say thank you and place them in water, the best she could. You see, as children, we would cut them too close to the bloom, leaving no stem. As we got older, she would explain to us that when we cut the flowers, they would die faster than leaving them on the vine. She told us it was better if we came and grabbed her hand to show her which flower we wanted to give her. We then left it there so it would continue to flourish. It took us a while to learn this lesson. A flower can’t live without its life source. We also, can’t truly live without our life source. In the passage below, Jesus is explaining to the disciples the importance of remaining in Him, to be constantly connected to their Savior. If the disciples were going to carry on the work of Jesus, they needed to rest in his love, to cling to his promises and his teachings, to live and love as he demonstrated each and every day. We, as Christ’s disciples today, will not flourish apart from Christ. We cannot love as he has called us to love, if we do not remain and abide in his love. I encourage you today, to rest in the Father’s arms and allow yourselves to be loved. And being filled with the love of the Father, love one another. The Vine and the Branches John 15:1-17 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 Remain in me, as I also 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. 5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. 7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. 9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. 12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. 17 This is my command: Love each other.
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AuthorThe Pastors of Cornerstone Wesleyan Church Archives
July 2017
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