Branches and the Vine

At the Gathering last night, Martha talked about an idea from the book Abide in Christ.  We are all familiar with:

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.   John 15:5

The image of being branches connected to the vine -- people connected to Christ -- so that we will bear fruit is familiar and easy to understand.  The branches need their connection to the vine.

But what about the opposite.  The point Martha made is that without the branches, the vine does not bear fruit.  The vine needs the branches.

God didn't have to design the world that way.  He didn't have to place his faith and his trust in us.  He could have done it all by himself.  Instead, he works through the branches -- he works through us. 

We have the ability to say yes or no to him.  We have free will; he made us that way.

Isn't that amazing?

Perhaps one of the ways to keep Christ in Christmas is to remain a branch, attached to the vine.