Dear Faith Family,

I am the vine; you are the branches.  Whoever abides in Me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing, (John 15:5).

This weekend I spent some time in the garage constructing a storage dock for my cordless drill set.  Somebody posted a picture of a storage dock online.  That’s all it took.  I decided that my garage needed one of those.  Let me just tell you that it is stout, built out of ¾ inch plywood.  It’s seriously held together with glue and screws. (Insert Tim the Tool Man’s grunt here.)  It even has its own drawer for holding drill bits.

Right now, the storage dock is sitting on my workbench.  It looks cool.  But it’s pretty much worthless.  Just taking up space.  It is currently useless.  For the storage dock to be of any value it must be anchored to something that can sustain it.  A sturdy wall for instance.

Isn’t that what Jesus was saying in John 15?  That without Him, we are useless.  We’re just taking up space.  Fruit isn’t happening.  There is no love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

gentleness, or self-control without Jesus.  His fruit just doesn’t exist apart from Him.

Here’s the good news.  Abiding in Jesus produces fruit.  Granted, there is work to be done.  Notice the context.  Jesus talked about the Word (verses 3, 5) and He talked about prayer (verse 7).  Communication seems to be at the heart of abiding.  How intentional are you at listening to the Word of God?  How committed to loving obedience are you?  How intentional are you at talking to God, prayer?  What’s on His heart that you are asking Him to do?  Are you willing to be used by Him in answer to your prayer?

Well, as far as I know the storage dock is still sitting on the workbench.  It’s basically worthless.  But wait.  I intend to hang the storage dock on the wall, connecting it to the stud wall with lag screws.  That’s what I’m talkin’ bout.  And, as long as it abides in the stud wall, it will bear the fruit of its purpose.  Can’t wait to hang the “Makita” fruit on it!

By His grace abiding,
Pastor Karl