Keep the faith

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower. He takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit, and everyone that does he prunes so that it bears more fruit.” John 15:1-2

A timely reminder as I allow life to usurp my peace and joy which I had slowly but surely gained over the past few months, especially as I started to read the Bible over 40 days for lent. It is so easy to slip back into old ways. We’re so fickle like that. For me, it happened because I had family visiting and so all my undivided attention turned to them. I did do my daily Bible readings but its message did not stand out like usual. I did not carry it with me through the day, like I usually aim to do. Shows me how quick to preoccupation my mind and heart is.

The above lines have hidden meaning in them. At first, I skim over and yadayadayada goes through my mind… yeah, well of course the father is the vine and I am the branches. That must be the message which I’ve often heard before. And that must be the takeaway?

However.

“He takes away every branch in me that does not bear fruit…” Life is never constant, and it’s ups and downs affect us too. And this causes us to change and adapt. And while this is happening, and because this is happening, our souls are being fashioned into something entirely new by the Lord. So trials are a period of (sometimes, slow, and mostly hard) training for our souls, where the weeds are being torn down, and we are being changed into who God wants us to be.

Some much needed pruning is required, and we may experience periods of distance from God. Because we don’t understand what is happening when we are being “pruned”.

Remain in me, as I remain in you. Just as a branch cannot bear fruit on its own unless it remains on the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me.

God lives within us already, fact. So, all we are to do is, keep the faith (Remain in me). Keep believing and hold on to your faith, however shallow or deep. We cannot bear fruit without the Lord. We cannot do good without the Lord. We need to rely on God in good times and bad. Trials and sufferings are God-sent to make us better people, and produce more “fruits”.