Title
The Horticultural of God's Kingdom
Scripture
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.
(John 15:5)
Devotional
Like a branch severed from the vine, if we alienate ourselves from Christ we will wither and die. We are not natural branches, but have been grafted in.[14] Therefore all our nutrients come from the vine. A branch can have a bit of strength aside from the vine, but it will surely and quickly wane. All ability to produce a lasting fruit comes from the power of the vine, never the branches. The branches can have an appearance of strength, but the source is always in the vine. We are all branches. The question is, "To what vine are we engrafted?" If we are grafted into Christ, we will bear a certain kind of fruit. We are told that "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control."[15] If we are not bearing this fruit, Christ furthermore instructs, "Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit."[16]