You may not know this, but I have accountability partners. I do. I have sins, trials, and temptations I fall in to, and so I reach out to these men who I trust. Today, one of these and I were talking about the nature of sin, when it hit me: we fall in to sin because we’re focused on sin. We get in to trouble because we focus on the problem, and not on Jesus. This may seem simplistic, but it is! Think about it: when you struggle, whether with words, thoughts or actions, who are you focused on at the time? It’s usually the problem, and in a round about way, yourself. It’s like when my children are fighting and I ask them what they did (individually), and I hear “He…” I didn’t ask what the brother was doing, but immediately, they focused on that, and not their personal involvement in the situation! In the same way, we don’t really outgrow that problem of focusing on the problem (or the cause of the problem.
Loved ones, there is a reason the Bible says focus on Jesus. Jesus said “ I am the vine, you are the branches. Abide in me.” That means “LIVE in me, get your nourishment from me, get your sustenance from me.” I heard a fantastic preacher from Mexico say a few weeks ago: the branch’s job is not to bear fruit: its job is to remain rooted in the vine!” The branch can’t worry about the wind, or the rain, or the sunshine, or how much fruit it is bearing. It can only remain rooted in the vine, stay healthy in the vine, and trust the vine to provide everything it needs to produce fruit.
Loved ones, where are you rooted? Are you rooted in the problems you face? Are you rooted in the issues of the world? Or are you rooted in Christ, trusting Him to give you all you need?
John 15:1-17
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. 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. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full.
“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. These things I command you, so that you will love one another.
