A New Devotion - Content Being Branches

Here's a new devotion that I wrote. It's based on the passage below. You can find a recording of this devotion at the bottom of the page.

John 15:1-11 [Contemporary English Version] 

Jesus said to his disciples:

I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts away every branch of mine that doesn't produce fruit. But he trims clean every branch that does produce fruit, so that it will produce even more fruit. You are already clean because of what I have said to you.

Stay joined to me, and I will stay joined to you. Just as a branch cannot produce fruit unless it stays joined to the vine, you cannot produce fruit unless you stay joined to me. I am the vine, and you are the branches. If you stay joined to me, and I stay joined to you, then you will produce lots of fruit. But you cannot do anything without me. If you don't stay joined to me, you will be thrown away. You will be like dry branches that are gathered up and burned in a fire.

Stay joined to me and let my teachings become part of you. Then you can pray for whatever you want, and your prayer will be answered. When you become fruitful disciples of mine, my Father will be honored. I have loved you, just as my Father has loved me. So remain faithful to my love for you. If you obey me, I will keep loving you, just as my Father keeps loving me, because I have obeyed him.

I have told you this to make you as completely happy as I am.

Content Being Branches

As I look back at the mistakes I’ve made in the past, most of them have come from me getting my nose out of joint because I didn’t get what I thought I deserved and then doing something stupid without thinking it through. For example, almost twenty years ago, I was a history teacher at a school that gave me all kinds of freedom in how I conducted my classes. And not only was I happy with my subjects I taught, I liked both my colleagues and my students. And as the cherry on top of the sundae, at the same time, I was working part-time with three little congregations, one of which was within walking distance from where I lived. Life was nearly perfect and so was my situation. But then I got mad  because I wasn’t content being just a well-appreciated teacher in a system that couldn’t have been better if I designed it myself. I wanted more, and so I left that school and went to another and found myself absolutely miserable. As a matter of fact, my health crashed, and I ended up leaving that new system and the three little churches, the area in which we lived and even the teaching profession. Now that’s what happened. And even though my family and I had a good life after we moved, every now and then I wonder what might have been. I wish I’d been more content doing something I really loved.

And I think this idea of contentment is actually the challenge that Jesus is putting before us in the passage above, the one about how Jesus is the vine and the Father is the gardener and we’re the branches. You see, although we might want to see ourselves as independent followers of Christ without needing any additional support or direction beyond what we can provide for ourselves, that’s not who or what we are. We are like branches, drawing our strength from the vine and subject to occasional pruning. Now that’s our reality. And we have one job to do, and it doesn’t involve being independent agents. Instead, we’re here to bear fruit, something that’s impossible unless we’re connected to the rest of the plant. You see, although we may see ourselves as being more important than we actually are, we’ll only successfully do what we’ve been called and equipped to do when we’re content being branches.