Be a Branch

These last few days we were at a retreat and one night one of the leaders shared part of her story. She had grew up in the Church and was doing the Christian life. God showed her at one point the passage John 15. "I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine dresser." Most of us know this. Abide in me and you will bear much fruit, apart from me you'll do nothing. Got it. Then she said "Stop being the gardener. Be the branch." You're job is not to cultivate yourself, it's to abide in Jesus. It's not to trim yourself where you feel like it's needed, it's not to strive to dig your roots down, it's to enjoy Jesus and let Him do it.

I can't do that! I can't tell people to stop cultivating themselves. Stop being a good steward, reading your bible, praying, etc. Stop doing these things to make you Holy and instead enjoy Jesus. I can't do that. If I stop doing these things I know I should, if I stop disciplining myself I'll backslide, I'll go back into the world, I'll fall away, I'll do my own selfish desires. I go be laxed and away.  

Yeah, you can't let go because you think you're the one holding on. You think that your still a dirty awful sinner. You don't believe that I have bought you (1 Cor. 6:20) changed you (2 Cor. 5:17) redeemed you (Gal 3:14). You don't trust you. You don't trust you so there is no way that you will ever really enjoy you.

It's true that apart from Jesus you can do nothing. It's true that without Jesus you're nothing. But guess what? If you're a Christian, you're never without Jesus ever again. You have died to your old self. (Gal 2:20) You are now a new creation. (2 Cor 5:17). You have been united with Christ (Phil 2:1), you sit with Him in the heavenly places (Eph 2:6). Jesus and His Father and the Spirit have came in and made a home and a temple out of your body (1 Cor 6:19 - Jn 15:23). So there is no more of this talk "without Jesus..." because there is never again a point in your life that you are without Jesus because you're hidden in Christ. You've been united as one, and you can't undo one.

Here's what you need to do: Enjoy Jesus and do what happens next.
You've been given a new heart. You've been given a new mind - the mind of Christ (1 Cor 2:16). We continue to renew it so we know how to use it and think fully with it so we understand how things actually work (Romans 12:2).Don't be afraid to lose control of backslide - you pursue what you love. You don't strive after it. Give up what you think you need to do to be a good Christian and instead go enjoy Jesus, then do what happens next. Proverbs 37:4 "Delight in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart." When you enjoy Jesus, your heart will desire to do different things. Do those things that you enjoy because God has put them there. You can enjoy yourself. I mean, you can enjoy who you are and what you do. You are good.

The argument in my head that followed. To be continued... (You'll want to read the rest. It gets better.)