Not a day goes by that I miss a meal. Like clockwork, you will find me at the table for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and even the occasional afternoon snack. Why? Because I love food and because I know I need food to survive.
Plants feels this same desperation. “Tropism” is simply the bending and turning of the plant to reach for the things that stimulate life. Last year, my children and I watched video after video in our science class of grass seeds grown in a box bending toward the light peeking through a small hole poked in the side. This led us on hikes into our woods to seek out trees that grew towards the sunlight – often bending around objects in their path to create hilarious paths upward. We found the same awkward growth by the water’s edge, where the plants instinctually began to spread out towards the drink it offered.
If I believe that Jesus is my vine (John 15) – than I must acknowledge that I cannot live without Him and, like the grass seeds in the science video, I must reach for Him by any means possible. He is what is “absolutely necessary.” Like food, like water - in Him, is life (John 10:10).
To live without Jesus is to
live my life starving.
Psalm 63:1-8
O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you;
my soul thirsts for you;
my flesh faints for you,
as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
2 So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary,
beholding your power and glory.
3 Because your steadfast love is better than life,
my lips will praise you.
4 So I will bless you as long as I live;
in your name I will lift up my hands.
5 My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food,
and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips,
6 when I remember you upon my bed,
and meditate on you in the watches of the night;
7 for you have been my help,
and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy.
8 My soul clings to you;
your right hand upholds me.
The “fat and rich food” the Psalmist writes of was the choicest of meats. It was the most nutritious, the finest, and the best the animal had to offer. To say that in God’s presence he was “satisfied as with the fat and rich food” was to say that the Psalmist had eaten his fill of the very best and the “praise” that would follow from his “joyful lips” would be, “Compliments to the Chef!” Later in the night, as he laid in his bed, he would remember what he had taken away from His time in God’s presence and again find himself full of joy (verse 7). The time He had spent with God would continue to sustain Him through the night!
This is how it is, my friend, when Jesus is your Vine. Connected to the “life-giving conduit,” you are supplied with everything that is “absolutely necessary” to sustain life.
Do you believe that? Do you look to Him as the source and sustainer of your life? Do you see time spent with Him as an option or the “one thing” that is “necessary?”
Take some time to evaluate your relationship with the Lord.
How have you treated your relationship with Jesus? Casual? Consistent? Important? Life or death? Forgettable?
What words would you use to describe where your relationship with Jesus stands right now?
How did your relationship get to where it’s at today?
Where would like your relationship with God to be?
Can I encourage you to dig deep into God's Word and spend time in His presence, to take moments of prayer throughout the day and fill your home with worship? This relationship can't be tossed to the side. It is necessary. It is life. It is WORTH your time. HE is worth your time.