Heart to Heart
Recently, my grandson Samuel and I were standing in a yard, admiring the bright green grass, along with the new leaves budding out. In other words, before the March 31st white stuff showed up.
Sam was playing with some sticks, and was telling me how one’s branches made it look like a fork. I told him I saw the three branches as more like a pheasant foot. In the midst of our conversation, as he waved the sticks around, one of them broke. He showed it to me, and then asked, “what’s that green stuff?”
I let him know that there was a big difference between the two sticks. The one was washed out in color, very hard and obviously had been on the ground for a while. It was a dead stick. The other had a rich brown color to it, and where it had broken, there was a thin layer of green circling the stick. That stick showed signs of new life. I explained to Sam that when it had been connected to the tree, the life of the tree had been flowing through the branch. The proof of life was in the green layer that surrounded the wood and lay right beneath the surface of the bark.
We’ve just shifted from winter, into spring. During the winter months, plants and trees are dormant, and everything looks like it’s dead. But when spring arrives, what seemed dead can suddenly give visible evidence of new life. It springs to the surface where all can see. Flowers poke their heads up and begin to bloom. The trees bud out, and vibrant green leaves open up. The new green grass appears, pushing past the pale, dry winter-killed grass.
Jesus taught a lot on the secret to “new life.” In the parable of the Vine & the Branches (Jn 15), the emphasis is on our responsibility to “remain in Him.” The picture is one of a branch intimately joined to the Vine, drawing on the Vine’s life, in order to produce fruit. Christ tells us that apart from Him, we can do nothing. If we fail to abide in Him,; we produce nothing that lasts. But as we’re vitally connected to Christ, the fruit appears. Indeed, Jesus declares that our lives will produce fruit that lasts forever – winning lost people to Jesus; fruit of the Holy Spirit.
As we celebrate Good Friday this week, and then Resurrection Sunday on April 5th, may we stop to invite God’s Spirit to inspect the fruit of our lives. Ask Jesus to exam our hearts, testing us to see if we are fully abiding in Him. Not with a performance mindset or out of guilt. But rather, a heart of love back to Him who sacrificed Himself, so that we might be reunited with God, and gifted with His forgiveness & eternal life. Celebrate the new life Jesus makes possible.
Christ is Risen! Hallelujah!! Christ in us, the hope of glory!!!
Pastor Adriaan & Diana ><>