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DEVOTIONAL

Excerpt taken from 'The Last Eyewitness:The Final Week'

Posted on March 29, 2006

“I am the vine, and you are the branches. If you abide in Me and I in you, you will bear great fruit.” John 15:5 The Voice Bible

“How can you follow Christ if you don’t know what it means to be joined with God, to become a living branch in God’s vineyard?

Grapes do not grow in isolation. Many have romanticized the spiritual path of monasticism—brothers and sisters known for their private journeys into the wilderness to be with God. This word monastic comes from the Greek word monazein, meaning, “to be alone.” This seems selfish really, and contradicts all that Christ is. Our call is to community, not isolation, to be present with one another, to share, and to raise one another up.

Seasons may come when we are allowed some space that helps us to see the world more clearly and identify God’s work in our lives. But we belong to one another. We are to abide in Christ and one another; this is central in Jesus’ teachings.

I know these are hard truths. Some of you wonder what difference it makes to believe that we are in Christ and that we are intimately connected with one another. It makes all the difference in the world. You see the world’s way is to seek personal advantage, put self first and to live disconnected to everyone else. It is to celebrate the myth of the “self-made man” and to jockey for position over everyone else. But Christ’s way is a way of love and connection between God and neighbor. Because we are connected like vines and branches, when we serve one another, we actually serve Christ. And when we serve Christ, we find we have gained great rewards in this life and in the life to come. As Jesus said over and over to us, the way to greatness is service. And no one served us more than Christ.”

by Chris Seay and David Capes

 

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