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Key Bible Verses: "My Father is the gardener. … I am the vine; you are the branches" (John 15:1, 5). Bonus Reading:John 15:1-8

You never saw a gardener with tomatoes hanging down from his arms, did you? Gardeners select the field, prepare the soil, plant the seed, chop the weeds, and prune the plants. But they don't produce fruit.

Trunks produce branches but they don't produce fruit. They support the weight and seek out the moisture. They hold the branches up to the sunlight.

Branches produce fruit. That's us. Jesus seems to be saying that we are to be the producers. And if we're not fruitful, then there won't be any fruit at all. At least, not until He grows some new branches. He's telling us that we're to be doing what branches are supposed to do.

If you have the feeling that you're the one who's supposed to keep the saints free of weeds, lay down the hoe. That's the gardener's job; the Father is the Gardener. If it seems to you the weight of the whole church is resting on you, set it down. The trunk will take care of that; Jesus is the Trunk. You're a branch. And the branches that live in the Vine will be cultivated and tended by the Gardener, and nourished and supported by the Vine. And they'll produce lots of fruit.

—Bob Benson in "See You at the House"

My Response: Can I say that I'm producing fruit where I am?

Thought to Apply: Take rest; a field that has rested gives a bountiful crop. —Ovid (Roman poet, 1st century B.C.)

Adapted from "See You at the House" (Generoux, 1986) by permission.

Copyright © 2003 by the author or Christianity Today International/Men of Integrity magazine.
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Prayer for the Week

Lord, don't let me accept staying stunted; give me the desire to develop into a solid disciple.

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