Chapter 10:: We are Connected to Jesus and Find Our Identity in Him

Happy New Year!!!

Remember this... John 15... The vine & the branches...

Love that we find ourselves here again! 

"For the word of God is living & active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart." Hebrews 4:12

The word of God is alive... it's active! It's not dead after the first time you read it. So important to have this attitude when coming to passages in Bible you might be more familiar with. My prayer for us today is that God would make us teachable. Humble. Eager to learn, grow & become more like Jesus! If you read onto verse 13,  we're reminded that we can't hide... we're all naked & exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give an account (to God - Romans 14:12). So there's no need to pretend we have it all figured out! 

Lord, make us teachable & humble... more like You. 

Vine & Branches

Vinedresser - God the Father - a person who prunes, tends to , or cultivates grapevines

Vine - Jesus - any plant having a long, slender stem that trails or creeps on the ground or climbs by winding itself about  a support or holding fast with tendrils; the stem of any such plant

Branches - Us - a limb, offshoot, or ramification of any main stem

I love this picture. Notice how small the branches are? Ha! Not that all branches are small in comparison to the vine/fruit, but cool to reflect on when looking at this picture. It's ONLY because the vine is alive & healthy that those branches even have a chance. What's the overall purpose of planting a vineyard? The grapes it produces! What's the purpose of the vineyard, spiritually? That God be made famous, honored; that He'd be made appealing & attractive to the world! The good fruit of our lives are to point directly to Him. Well, it's supposed to anyways -- maybe that would be an indicator if the 'fruit' we think looks so good, in fact proves to be self-seeking, self-righteousness, or pride and quickly withers. 

"We are supernaturally connected to Christ, and all of our strength and grace for over coming with joy in this life flow from him. He is the root from which we get all of our sustenance for life." Pg. 97

He's always the root! I hate that what Wendy said on pg. 96 is so true... we so often view our relationship with the Lord as just times that we intersect with Him. We feel better about ourselves when we intersect with Him more often. I hate that! Instead, we need to think of ourselves walking with Jesus continually, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Love reading this, knowing that every time I read John 15, I'll still be in process. But He will still be patient, eager to walk me through this thing we call life! 

Head & Body

These two illustrations complement one another so well. The body has no power apart from the head. Your limbs still exist, but are worthless (John 15:5 - apart from me you can do nothing). So thankful for this illustration though, highlighting our need for each other.

We need Christ's body as much as we need his head.

• Does you life reflect this teaching of Scripture?
• Do you identify Christ as the head of your body and live like he is the brains of your operation?
• Does your life reflect the supernatural connection you have to the rest of his body?
• Are you living in community with your brothers & sisters in his body or in isolation from other believers?
• Does your relationship with the church show that you believe that you are members of one another, or do you disobey Paul's instructions by living as if you don't need the other members?

Semi-random, I was looking through my blog trying to find something and came across this post from last spring. The first time I read this book, ch. 9 totally rocked my world. Thankful that He continues to teach me how to empty myself (thankful for His patience). Link

Totally random, but I'm headed to Atlanta tomorrow morning to attend the Passion 2012 Conference!! It starts the evening of January 2nd and on their website, you can live-stream it. If you're free, you should join me!! Passion 2012 -- click "join us live stream". Some of the speakers include John Piper, Francis Chan, Louie Giglio, & Beth Moore.