Apple Trees

John 15:5 I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.

Today, so many of us could skim over this passage, one of the most beautiful pictures in scripture of our relationship to Jesus. We could pass through it because we are lost at the analogy of the vine, the grape vineyard that was so prevalent in Jesus’ time. What about if I present it as an apple tree? What about understanding that Jesus is the tree trunk, we are the branches, the soil is the Bible, and the apples are good works? We can’t do anything as a branch that is not joined to the tree. Branches that aren’t joined end up on the ground, end up dead, and many be thrown into a fire and burned just as John 15 states.

If Jesus is the tree, he is everything to us. He is our foundation, he is where we get our nourishment from, and he is rooted in God’s Word. If the soil he is feeding each of his branches with, is the Bible, is the food that we need to survive, how will we not die if we do not feed on it? That is what causes us to die, to fall away from God, to become spiritually weak, to lack everything that comes from daily time with God, studying his Word. We will fall away, we will fall back to the ground, joined to the world again, dead, awaiting the fire. 6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned.

If we are a branch, growing with Jesus, we are getting higher with the tree, getting farther away from the ground. We find ourselves feeding on Jesus’ nourishment he pulls through the soil, we find ourselves becoming strong enough in our faith to produce fruit. What are these apples that begin to come forth? They are the heavenly works that come from a true heart of love for Jesus. They are heavenly works that produce evangelism, that produce integrity, that produce love and forgiveness when the world breeds selfishness and hate. Through the love of God, through the love of his Word, we begin to stand out from the crowd, we begin to look like Jesus to a hateful world; what God designed us for, (Romans 8:29)

All it takes to produce this heavenly fruit, is to slow down and just seek to abide for each day. Seek to just concentrate on today alone, to just spend one day at a time pursuing what God has for you. That will mean prayer, time in his Word, time seeking him throughout the day, time looking just to make it through the day, not worrying about tomorrow. Matthew 6:34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. Tomorrow is what the world preaches to you every day; to worry about what will come, when you don’t even know if tomorrow will come. You will likely miss the blessing of today, the blessing Jesus has laid before you, if you worry about a day that may not even arrive. If you just worry about your daily relationship to Jesus, the cares of the world seem small. You also realize the blessing at the end of John 15:5; for without Me you can do nothing. All you must do is to abide for each day, and let him produce that heavenly fruit through your life.