No, You Can’t Do it Alone

John 15:4,5 Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. (NRSV)

We all like to think that we’re pretty self-sufficient, that our parents taught us well, and now we’re on our own. But is self-sufficiency all that it’s cracked up to be? Is that really what God wants for us?

One of the things that we parents try to teach our children is to become self-sufficient, to step up and take responsibility because by the time they leave home, we want them to be able to cope with the big wide world out there on their own. We want them to be self-sufficient and that’s good up to a point, but there is a downside. The danger is that we take that thinking and that teaching, each one of us, into our relationship with God. Jesus once said this to His disciples:

That’s powerful stuff, and as I read that, here’s what I hear Him saying to the likes of thee and me:

Look guys, I don’t care how clever you are – apart from me, you can do nothing. I’m the vine, you’re the branches. The only way for you to bear fruit is to be connected to me.

When I became a Christian, that’s a lesson that I had to learn the hard way because I was Mr Self Sufficient. But when it came to overcoming my sin, when it came to blessing others, here’s what I discovered:

Apart from Jesus, I can do nothing. And nothing, means … nothing!

That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.

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