Go back to your basic science class. What does a tree or any plant for that matter need? What are its basic necessities? The four very basic necessities are: water, nutrients, carbon dioxide, and sunlight. We will use an apple tree as an example. An apple tree needs these things to produce glucose so that it can continue to live and so it can produce apples. What about us as humans? What do we need? We need shelter, food, water, oxygen, etc. These are real and physical needs. Let's speak metaphorically though. We are all like the trees. We need breath, water, nutrients, and sunlight (If you don't believe me on this last one then you are unaware of the benefits of sunlight or you are allergic to sunlight and have to get those things from somewhere else. We get these things through the vine which is Jesus Christ.
In John 15:1-17 Jesus gives us the parable of The Vine and the Branches. Jesus explains that He is the vine, His Father is the gardener, and we are the branches. The gardener cuts off the branches that do not produce fruit and prunes the branches that do produce fruit. He also explains that without the vine, the branches do not produce fruit. So, what he means is that we are called to produce fruit or proof that we are His. How do we produce this fruit and what is this fruit anyway? In John 15:12-17 Jesus commands us to love one another and in Galatians 5:22-23 the apostle Paul tells us, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law." In addition, Paul tells us in Galatians 5:14, "For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: "Love your neighbor as yourself."" With these texts in light with each other we can gather what kinds of "fruit" we should produce and how to produce them. These "fruits" are characteristics of God and we are image bearers of Him (Genesis 1:27). By loving God and one another we have the first "fruit" which is love. By loving one another we learn to produce the other "fruits". It can be quite difficult to produce certain fruit such as joy or forbearance, especially when someone is being rude or cruel. Often times it can seem impossible and we fail. However, God helps us to grow so that we can produce fruit. It does not happen overnight and He does not wish us to fail. He sent us Jesus so that through Him, we can produce fruit. Without the vine, the branches do not produce fruit. Since Jesus is the vine and we are the branches, we can produce fruit, but as Jesus says in the parable, apart from the vine we do not produce fruit. So, it is that only through Jesus will we be able to produce all the fruit we are called to produce. We must remember that similar to the growth of trees it will take time. Before we can produce fruit, we must grow. Let's remember what a tree needs to live, grow, and produce its own fruit: carbon dioxide, sunlight, water, and nutrients. God helps us with these things. He is the source of our:
Light:
-John 1:5 This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all.
-John 1:7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his son purifies us from all sin.
-John 9:5 (Jesus speaking) While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.
Water:
-Jeremiah 2:13 (declares the Lord) My people have committed two sins: they have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and they have dug their won cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.
-Jeremiah 17:13 Lord, you are the hope of Israel; all who forsake you will be put to shame. those who turn away from you will be written in the dust because they have forsaken the Lord, the spring of living water.
-John 4:14 (Jesus to the Samaritan woman at the well) But whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.
Bread (food/ nutrients):
-John 4:34 "My food," said Jesus, "is to do the will of Him who sent me and to finish His work."
-John 6:32-33 Jesus said to them, "Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world."
-John 6:35 Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never go thirsty."
Breath (air/life):
-Acts 17:25 And he is not served by human hands as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else.
-Job 32:8 But it is the spirit of a man, the breath of the Almighty, that gives him understanding.
-Job 34: 14-15 If it were his intention and he withdrew his spirit and breath, all mankind would perish together and man would return to dust.
God himself is light and living water. He gives us the bread of life which is Jesus. He also even gives us "breath and everything else". All these things help us to grow and mature spiritually. God is not a heartless gardener. In Luke 12:24 Jesus says, "Consider the Ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are then birds!" God gives the ravens what they need. He cares about his children far more than he cares about a bird. He loves us deeply and intimately. He will provide us with all that we
need to produce the fruit that he calls us to produce. As the tree grows it is the trunk that carries water and nutrients to the branches and the leaves of the branches is where the photosynthesis takes place in presence of sunlight.
So, be encouraged, that God will give you everything you need. It will not be easy. God does not make it so that it is a walk in the park. He wants us to grow in Him and to know and remember that he is the source of all those things we need to produce fruit. If it is too easy we will be tempted to believe that we do it all on our own. This is a lie that we must learn to recognize and rebuke. For without God, we do not have breath and would "return to dust". So, rejoice that God loves us and cares for us more than birds. It may seem like he is not there at times, but he is.