Carina Francke

Scripture: Joh 15:5: "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing."

In this day and age we are very privileged to lay our hands on loads of information about any subject possible, by the mere click of a button. Self-help courses and books enable us to address problem areas in our lives, and seminars on different subjects regarding life add to our ability to lead quite informed and intelligent lives.

This acquiring of knowledge, though, could mislead us into attributing our successes and changed lifestyles to our own abilities and efficiency. Of course our hard work delivers fruit, but lasting fruit is what God desires. And that is only possible if we stay dependent on Jesus. "Remain in Me, and I will 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. (John15:4)

To bear fruit when He is not the source, very often has the effect that we say and do things in our impetuosity that could be harmful and even destructive. Peter's actions in different situations teaches us how not to handle things ourselves:

• When Jesus set His disciples at ease when they doubted whether it was Him walking on the water, Peter demanded that He prove Himself - He must command him to walk on water as well. But fear took hold of Peter after a few steps, he started sinkingand eventually had to anxiously cry out to Christ for help, thus admitting that Christ is the Lord (Matt 14:30) 
• At another occasion he had the audacity to reprimand Jesus when He shared with his disciples the suffering awaiting Him. (Mark 8:32)
• He struck Malchus and cut off his ear with his sword when Jesus was arrested (John 18:10) and shortly thereafter he denied Jesus (Matthew 26:51)
• After Jesus' death, he returned to his old occupation. He gave no second thought to the day when God Himself revealed to him that Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God. Forgotten the day when Jesus changed his name from Simon Barjona to Peter, the rock. (Matt 16:17,18)

God wants us to bear good and lasting fruit. By ourselves it is impossible but if we allow the sap of the vine to produce that kind of fruit in our lives, we fulfill what Jesus had promised, "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing."(John 15:5)

Prayer: Gracious Father, prevent me from bearing artificial fruit. Give me a twenty four hour awareness that only the Holy Spirit can produce fruit in me that is acceptable to You and help me to stay dependent on You alone. Amen.