To abide in the vine...
Illustration
"To abide in the vine" means to be vitally connected to a living rootage.
A gardener planted cucumbers, tilling the ground until it was right, selecting the best seeds, planting each at just the proper depth, and fertilizing well. As the weeks went by, to prevent the encroachment of weeds, he worked the soil often, and he sprayed against bugs and blights. The season was a pleasant mixture of sunshine and rain; and on the vines the broad, green leaves appeared and, in due course, the blooms. It all looked good for salads and cucumber pickles!
But one day the gardener noticed that here and there certain leaves were dying, certain blooms fading. Most leaves remained glossy green, but scattered among these were those turned brown. Why would some die in the midst of all the living?
So the gardener, carefully stepping among the tangled mass of vines, traced the ones on which the leaves and blooms were dying, until he found they were all connected to a single stem. There, just above the ground, cut-worms had severed the stalk. Thus cut off from the nurturing earth, that entire vine was dying; there would be no cucumbers on it.
So it is in our relationship with our Lord Christ. It is only as we have lifegiving relationship with him that we are really alive and can really bring forth fruit. We must take care that the cutworms of some intruding enemy do not sever us from our rootage.
- Mann
A gardener planted cucumbers, tilling the ground until it was right, selecting the best seeds, planting each at just the proper depth, and fertilizing well. As the weeks went by, to prevent the encroachment of weeds, he worked the soil often, and he sprayed against bugs and blights. The season was a pleasant mixture of sunshine and rain; and on the vines the broad, green leaves appeared and, in due course, the blooms. It all looked good for salads and cucumber pickles!
But one day the gardener noticed that here and there certain leaves were dying, certain blooms fading. Most leaves remained glossy green, but scattered among these were those turned brown. Why would some die in the midst of all the living?
So the gardener, carefully stepping among the tangled mass of vines, traced the ones on which the leaves and blooms were dying, until he found they were all connected to a single stem. There, just above the ground, cut-worms had severed the stalk. Thus cut off from the nurturing earth, that entire vine was dying; there would be no cucumbers on it.
So it is in our relationship with our Lord Christ. It is only as we have lifegiving relationship with him that we are really alive and can really bring forth fruit. We must take care that the cutworms of some intruding enemy do not sever us from our rootage.
- Mann
