“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” John 15:1-5

I believe that for many of us who call ourselves followers of Christ, we have heard this “I Am.” I know certainly for me, growing up at a Christian school K-12th grade, this was a passage I knew very well and heard often. Over the years, I have made two observations from this passage which I think we should all evaluate within our personal walks with Christ. First, are you truly part of the vine? To be a part of the vine, Christ, means that we truly have accepted Him as our Lord and Savior. It does not mean that we simply have said some words and believe in a higher power. This means that as Paul wrote in Romans 10:9, that we have confessed and truly believe in our hearts that Jesus is Lord and He is who He says He is.  

The second evaluation is this, are you truly prepared to be pruned? I am not sure about you, but cutting the grass and doing landscaping is hard work! However, the work is worth the reward to see those perfect lines in the grass, or that picture-perfect tree and hedge! Here, Jesus tells us that in order for us to bear fruit, in order for us to share His Gospel in a meaningful and impactful way, we must be willing to be pruned by our heavenly Father. This pruning is not to hurt or stop us from being effective, but to make us more effective for the cause of the Gospel of Christ. 

I pray that as you continue on today and the rest of this week, you will evaluate these two questions in your life and walk with Christ. I know that at times the pruning that has taken place in my life has not been easy. Yet, as I continue to prayerfully seek the Father’s will in my life and continue to stay in His Word, I am truly thankful for a Vinedresser who cares and loves me so deeply!

A while back, I had the chance to go experience an Escape Room. For those of you who are unfamiliar, this is basically a real-life puzzle where you and a group of friends try to escape a room within the allotted amount of time. You truly feel like Sherlock Holmes as you try to decipher clues and puzzles, ultimately making your way through to unlock the final door and escape! However, it will also test your friendships as you try to communicate and work together. Needless to say, when I went with my group of friends, we did not escape in the allotted amount of time, but we did come close and had a ton of fun. The reason I bring this up is that whenever I think of a door, there are many ways in which to enter. Some doors, we use a key, others we may you a key code, and some fancy ones use a fob or a card.  

During this Easter season, we are going through our study on the “I Ams” of Jesus. Today, I want to take a look at how Jesus is the door of our lives. In John 10:7-9 we read, “So Jesus again said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture.’” Now, when we read this passage, many of us can understand that when Jesus is referring to the “sheep,” He is referring to us, His followers. He first speaks of all the false teachers who have come before Him (thieves and robbers) and established how they were liars and not the true door through which to enjoy the pastures, or truth, joy, and eternal life. Yet, there is the second part of this teaching which I love, an open invitation. In verse nine, Jesus says “If anyone enters by me, he will be saved.” Jesus is reminding us of the open, free invitation to enjoy life in Him.

With the Escape Room, there are tons of keys and puzzles we must complete and work through, in order to earn and gain entrance to the final door and escape. Yet, as Jesus tells us here in John 10:9 and Paul reminds us in Romans 10:9, there is no secret clue or hidden key through which we can gain access to eternal life. All we must do is simply confess Jesus as our Savior and trust that He is who He says He is, and we will instantly gain access to walking through the greatest door in the world, that door is Jesus. There is no secret code, no fancy key, all we must do is trust and confess and we will be saved. I may have failed at the Escape Room, but boy am I thankful for a loving Savior who readily opened the door for me when all I had to do was trust and walk through it!