The Winelands

This past week Robin and I enjoyed a visit to Franschhoek in the Cape Winelands. It is a beautiful area as well as being the gourmet capital of South Africa. Needless to say we are a little more plump now. The week before going I started reading "The True Vine" by Andrew Murray. Murray was an 19th century South African pastor and prolific writer who grew up in Wellington, not far from Franschhoek (read anything and everything by him). Being surrounded by wineries as I was reading his study of Jesus' parable of the vineyard from John 15 really brought it home to me in a new and special way.

The first 3 verses of John 15 give us some very important truths:

• Jesus is the true vine


• God is the gardener


• I am a branch


• The purpose is fruit


• God's word is what prunes (cleans) me

Then in verse 4 the instruction comes. "Abide in me, and I in you." This is where the potential trap comes over which I stumble easily. I tend to see abiding as the fruit (goal). Abiding becomes the work I need to accomplish rather than producing fruit. I worry about what it means to abide an how do I live out abiding every day. Abiding becomes my religion. And then I wonder why I don't experience the "and I in you". And why don't I see more fruit being produced?

Murray points out that this is "Because the attention was turned to the abiding as a work we have to do, instead of to the living Christ, in whom we were to be kept abiding, who Himself was to hold and keep us." The secret to this mystery is found in verse 5 where Christ repeats the opening statement of the parable. "I am the vine." If we really see Christ as the true vine the abiding will come of itself. "..Souls who have never been especially concerned with the thought of abiding are abiding all the time, because they are occupied with Christ".

As I said in the Desiring God post on 1 January, I want 2009 to be about a return to my first love. I want to continually see Jesus as the true vine. I want Jesus to overwhlem me with a deeper understanding of who he is. Lord help me to focus on Jesus this year, today and not on the fruit or even the abiding, but only Him.