“I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in Me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without Me. If anyone does not remain in Me, he is thrown aside like a branch and he withers. They gather them, throw them into the fire and they are burned.”  John 15:5-6 HCSB

We have several large oak trees in our yard. Even though we may still have some very warm days, they know it’s fall. The leaves have begun to fall from the trees. We have had an unusually dry fall which has made it very easy to rake the leaves and burn them.

Our scripture passage today describes a branch that has fallen from the vine or a tree. Several days ago, I cut my yard and used my mower to blow the leaves into a very large pile. I then got my blower and made the pile smaller. My blower blew small limbs and leaves into the pile. I then lit the pile on fire. It was dry and burned quickly with no need for any type of accelerant. As the fire begin to burn, I used my rake to rake the pile into a smaller circumference. I continued to do so until I got it shrunk down as small as I wanted it to be. I thought about the limbs that had fallen from the tree. Once they fell from the tree, they did okay for a while. Their leaves stayed green and they appeared to be just fine separated from the tree, but within a few days they began to wither and die. They had died and dried up to the point where they were easily blown into the pile and burned.

This is exactly what happens when a believer falls away from Jesus. When we accept Christ as our Savior and say that we love Him and we are committed to Him, we are given a new life (2 Corinthians 5:17). As long as we remain connected to Him through constant communication with Him through prayer and Bible study, we thrive. We can produce fruit. Producing fruit means that we serve Him in a way that brings others to believe in Him and accept Christ as their savior. We are not saved to simply adorn the tree with our beautiful leaves, but we are saved to produce fruit. Even those oak trees produce acorns which grow more oak trees. As Christians we are expected to produce fruit or bring as many as we can to Christ. Often times, what happens is people are saved and get baptized and they say they love the Lord, but they fail to stick around. They fall off. When this happens, they can no longer produce fruit. When they can no longer produce fruit, they wither and die. They may think they are doing well for a while, but at some point, they will dry up. They will easily be blown away from the tree and into the pile where they will be burned. Or as Christians, they will easily be lead astray which will eventually lead to eternity in hell. Only those who stick around will continue to thrive and produce fruit. They will live forever in glory with God the Father. They will remain connected to the vine throughout eternity.

Ask yourself today, are you still connected to the tree or the vine or have you fallen off? We stay connected to Jesus through constant, continual prayer and Bible study. By staying connected we stay alive, we thrive and we can bring others to Christ. When we fall off, no good can come of that.

The difference between the limbs and leaves that fall from my trees in the yard and Christians that fall away from Christ is, I cannot reconnect the limbs and leaves. As Christians, we can choose to reconnect to the vine or the tree that is our Lord and Savior. We can choose a life where we abide in Him or stick close to Him. We can choose to thrive and produce much fruit. Or, we can choose to separate ourselves from Him. Our scripture passages tells us that we can do nothing without Christ.  Luke 1:37 tells us nothing is impossible with God. So, which will it be? Have you fallen off and feel yourself withering and dying? Are you dried up and ready for the burn pile? You can choose to burn in the fire or you can choose to reconnect with the God who loves you and wants what is best for you. It seems like a no brainer, but the choice is yours.

Have a great day!