the Fourth Week after Easter
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Daily Devotionals
Day by Day Devotional - Year 4 of 5
John 15:1-15
Israel was an unfruitful vine despite all the care of the divine Husbandman (Psalms 80:8-9; Isaiah 5:2). In contrast the Lord Jesus presents Himself as the true Vine bearing fruit through the disciples. But in the same way as on one vinestock all the branches are far from equal when it comes to bearing fruit, the Lord makes a difference between those who say they know Him, according to whether they bear "no fruit . . ., fruit . . ., more fruit" (v. 2) and "much fruit" (v. 5). There are two conditions necessary to bear "much fruit": to abide in Him, even as a branch remains attached to the trunk which feeds it; and to have Him in us, as this same branch allows the sap, which is its life, to course through it and saturate it. On the other hand, let us never forget that if the Father "purgeth" us by removing something from us in a manner which is sometimes painful to us, it is so that we may bear more fruit (v. 2).
But what blessed results flow from such communion: the knowledge of God’s will and consequently the answer to our prayers, since we no longer want to ask for anything other than what He would want for us (v.7); joy (v. 11); and finally the inestimable approval of the One who is willing to call us His friends (v . 14).
