… but is it from the Vine?

The other day I was spending some time in prayer and the thought was brought to mind; ‘Where do I get my spiritual nourishment from?’. It’s an interesting question, and one I think we all need to check ourselves with.

The first thing that shot through my mind was John 15. In this chapter, John records a conversation Jesus had with His disciples where He explains by metaphor that He is the Vine, and we are branches. In order to bear fruit, the branches must be connected to the Vine.

Jesus explains this further by introducing the evidence of fruit in the branches life. If the branch does not bear fruit, it is cut away from the Vine. However, should the branch bear fruit, it is pruned in order to produce even more.

Now what’s the difference here. Well ask any fifth grader in a biology class and they’ll tell you that the branch with fruit is taking its nutrients and life from the Vine, whereas the one not producing fruit is dead or not even attached.

What Jesus is telling His disciples is that they must gain their spiritual nourishment from Him. They are the branches, He is the Vine, and the spiritual nourishment of the branch comes from the stalk of the plant. The same holds true for all believers.

What I began to think about next is where we tend to try to gain our spiritual nourishment from. Do we try to be filled up from our spouse, our job, our achievements, likes or views on social media, the things we buy, or even our good deeds? None of these things will fill us up. None of these are our vine. Rather, they are each areas we are able to produce fruit. A Christian can’t gain their nourishment from the places they need to be pouring into.

We see clearly we need our spiritual nourishment from Christ; but let’s also think about some less obvious things that we may treat as a source of spiritual food that still miss the mark. How about that Instagram reel of that Pastor riffing on something in a clip from his Sunday sermon or latest podcast. That may be good stuff, but it isn’t the Vine. How bout that Christian podcast you listened to recently that really made a few good points. That’s a good supplemental bit of encouragement, but it’s not the Vine. How bout that Christian radio station or Spotify playlist you turned on recently and listened to for a bit. Nope, still not it.

While these last things are encouraging, they are not the thing. Of course, as Christians it’s all well and good to saturate our free time with things that point us toward the Vine, better to be pushed toward then ripped from. What is imperative though is we be intentional about gaining our true and primary spiritual nourishment from the Vine, from Christ himself.

I write this because I believe it is all to easy today for Christians to go long swaths of time without intentionally seeking to abide in the Christ. I think we are often all to easily satisfied with the quick tune into K-Love, or the 15 second sermon clip on social media, or the podcast, or whatever else. I think it’s also all to easy to miss it altogether with the hustle and bustle of life. We are busy, dopamine hit addicted people, living in a self driven society where it’s all about us. The last thing culture shapes you to do is put life on pause in order to intentionally seek Christ.

So the question arises, how do I even do this. I think the first place to start is praying and asking God to grant you a hunger for Himself. If you really seek to know God more, and you ask Him for help in that, He will deliver.

Second, intentionally carve out some time to spend in scripture and journaling. You can’t know God without scripture, and journaling will help you process and remember your thoughts. An easy way to do this is to start a Bible reading plan. This year I’m doing the M’Cheyne plan in the Bible app with my wife. We each take time to read and journal on the days reading, and then we discuss and unpack it before we go to bed.

Third, pray. Pray for your family, pray for your spouse, pray for your kids, pray for your friends, pray for your pastor, pray for your neighbors, pray for your co-workers, pray for the president whether you like him on not, pray for yourself, pray for whatever God brings to your mind, and in all this praying keep track of how God moves. Also when it comes to spouse and kids, do it with them.

If you have reached the end of this article and think to yourself, where do I start, pray this; “God, help me to root myself in you as I am the branch and You are the Vine.”