I am the true vine. John 15:1
In this statement, Jesus is declaring that it’s only through being connected to Him that we can live a spiritually and eternally productive life. Do we even think of life in those terms these days? Some certainly think of being productive members of society, being productive vocationally, or being productive financially. But do we realize that we are here on this earth primarily to be productive spiritually? It’s true. In the prophecy of Isaiah, God likened His people to a vineyard that He had planted, cultivated, and expected to bear good fruit. That’s a picture of each one of us. God planted us. We are here because He created us. We are not here by random chance or as the result of a cosmic accident. We are here by divine design. He has cultivated us. He has given us mental and physical powers, gifts, talents, and resources. He has surrounded us with good things and presented us with many great opportunities. He provides for us and gives us all we need to flourish and prosper so we can live productive lives for His glory. And one day we will all be called to present the fruit of our lives before Him.
Bearing Good Fruit
In Matthew 7, Jesus spoke about fruit-bearing trees, saying that bad trees cannot bear good fruit and good trees cannot bear bad fruit. This is where the problem comes in for us. We are sinners, or in other words, we are bad trees incapable of bearing good fruit. The good news is that God has provided a solution to that problem. Jesus is the true Vine—He is the source from which this good and acceptable fruit that God is seeking from our lives can come.
Jesus went on to put it like this:
I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. John 15:5
If we are not connected to Jesus, we will have absolutely nothing to present to God on the day of reckoning, but as we abide in Him, the true Vine, we will bear much fruit.