Disclaimer: What you are about to read may be a repeat. If so, I
apologize in advance. But the other day I passed by something that I first
noticed in 2008, and it is still “cool” to me so I’m risking a second telling.
I had been driving by this hedge post for years before noticing
that it had “sprouted,” but one day it finally caught my eye. I don’t know why
it took me so long to spot it - it is so different than other posts in the
fence line.
This post is bursting with life. The other posts are old,
weathered and bare. One has a future. The others are getting older, more
weathered, and less able to hold up a fence. The contrast is stark.
But a closer examination revealed the truth - this post hadn’t
sprouted after all! It was just as old, weathered and bare as every other post
in the fence line. What appeared to be a sprout was in reality another tree
which had grown up around the post and at some point had even been wired in
place by the guy who owned the fence.
A hedge post serves to illustrate the truth in what Jesus once
said, “I am the true vine, and My Father is the gardener. He cuts off every
branch in Me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit He
prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of
the word I have spoken to you. Remain in Me, and I will remain in you. No
branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you
bear fruit unless you remain in Me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a
man remains in Me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can
do nothing. If anyone does not remain in Me, he is like a branch that is thrown
away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned."
(John 15:1-6, NIV)
Every hedge post has the same story. Each one started as a branch
on a tree, was trimmed from that tree, “planted” in the fence row, made to hold
three strands of barbed wire, and would never again produce leaves and fruit. Fate
was sealed the day the branch became a post.
As Christians we are no different than branches on a hedge tree.
According to Jesus, He is the vine (tree) and we are the branches. And like
branches, if we stay connected to the Source of Life, pursue an ever deepening
relationship with Him, and surrender our life to Him, we will live and produce
fruit that pleases the Gardener. But if we disconnect, like lifeless posts we
wither away in unfruitfulness.
So, from one branch to another… We both know that each day brings
opportunities to disconnect. Each day our resolve to cling to our Savior is
tested. Each day presents trials and challenges that distract and discourage.
So I encourage and implore you – stay connected to the Vine along with other
branches that also cling to the Source of Life. Life today, tomorrow, and for
eternity depends upon staying with Him!
Clinging to Him,
Ron
