The vine is a well-known symbol for the nation of Israel. It serves no other purpose than to produce fruit. Ezekiel 15 talks about how the tree and its branches can provide timber for various jobs and purposes, but the vine was only as good as the fruit that it bore and therefore was useless if it was not bearing fruit. Because of the strength and purpose of the vine, it could not even be used to make a peg to hang things on and apart from bearing fruit on the vine, it served no other purpose whatsoever. Also, for it to bear fruit, it had to remain attached to the branch to receive it’s nourishment thereby having its total dependence from the branch. Because of its lack of uses, unless it was bearing good fruit it was barley worth the kindling that it might be used for in the fire. This scripture strongly reminds us that we, like the vine are spiritually worthless if we are not producing some type of good spiritual fruit. Ezekiel the profit was sending out the warning that because of the spiritual condition of Israel, they were on the verge of being purged, burned, even destroyed.
In the book of John Chapter 15, Jesus revealed that He was the true vine, and that God was the gardener. He said that God would cut off every branch in Him that was not bearing fruit and for the ones that were bearing fruit, God would prune those, so that they would bear even more fruit. He said, for those that had received the Word which was Him according to John 1, if they would remain in Him (by obeying Him and living for Him) then He would remain in them. He said that the only way that they could bear the kind of fruit that is acceptable to God was to remain in Jesus in order to bear His spiritual fruit. Otherwise, God would remove them, for they would no longer serve a spiritual purpose. It’s all about spiritual things. God is a Spirit and you are a spirit (with a body), and in order to worship Him and know Him you must do so in your spirit. Jesus went on to say that apart from Him we can do nothing…He was saying that without His power in us, we cannot accomplish the things of God, nor the things that God expects of us. If we do not remain in Him by obedience we are like branches that are no longer of any use. They wither and become dried up. Such branches He said, are picked up and thrown into the fire and burned, for they no longer serve a spiritual purpose. He further says that if we continue in Him then we will bear much fruit thereby showing ourselves to be His disciples.
What is your choice today? Is your value to God even worth being made into a peg if it means to be useful to Him. The little things do matter! However, being dried up and of no use God, matter deeply to Him. He yearns, longs and even begs us to come after Him, making Him the priority that He must be in our lives, for us to live the productive, caring and useful lives that He created us to have, and died to insure it... on our behalf....a fruit that will last John 15:16.
Loving you today,
Bren
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