Matthew 11:28-30 (NIV)
28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I
will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle
and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is
easy and my burden is light.”
It was a glorious spring morning. The warm sun shone down
on the cottony-white layers of blossoms that covered the old apple orchard. The
calm, still air was filled with the sound of buzzing as swarms of bees
delighted themselves with the sweet nectar. They flitted from one branch to
another, pollinating the flowers as they went and ensuring that in the fall,
these same trees would be loaded with apples. Everyone and everything was
totally at peace. Everyone and everything that is, except for the one unhappy
apple branch . . .
"Why do I have to be attached to this tree?" he
muttered to the buzzing bees. "I would fare much better if I was on my
own! I could prove the world that you don't have to be attached to a tree to
make it!"
And with this, he tried to shake itself off the tree, but
it was to no avail.
"Can't anyone help me break free??" he cried in
complete despair.
"Why would you want to be separated from your
tree?" asked a neighboring branch. "You need its vitality and support
to survive!"
"I need NOTHING!" shouted the branch. "My
tree is restraining me. I feel like a prisoner. I want to be free and be able
to do my own thing and prove myself to the world."
"You are not a prisoner," replied the other
branch. "Your tree loves…"
"Stop with your nonsense!" interrupted the
dissatisfied branch. "I know what is best for me! Can anyone help me break
free from my tree?"
"I can!" boomed the thunder.
All of a sudden the sky was darkened by massive, menacing
clouds. Lightning seemed to appear out from nowhere, striking the tree in
question, breaking the rebellious branch from its mother trunk and sending it
plummeting to the orchard floor.
"Oh thank you," said the branch. "You have
made it possible for the world to be able to see what I can do!"
As the days went by, a new sound could be heard over the
buzzing of the bees in the orchard: "I can do it. I can do it! I can make
it on my own!"
However the branch's buds were turning gray.
"It's not MY fault!" reasoned the rebellious
branch. "That other branch shouldn't have interfered with what I wanted to
do!"
The other branches didn't pay any attention to him,
however. They were too busy enjoying their snowy-white blossoms and all the
attention they were receiving from the bees.
The independent branch soon began to see that he was the
ONLY branch with wilting buds. Nothing he could do would make those flowers
open. "Maybe if I had a drink!" he thought. But this thought just
served to remind him of how desperately thirsty he had become. "Someone,
please help me," he pleaded. "I need a drink!"
All of a sudden he heard footsteps. The gardener was
coming! He would surely be able to provide him with some water! And he would
most DEFINITELY compliment him for succeeding in becoming so independent!
But that's not what the gardener said at all. As the
rebellious branch felt himself being picked up and transported out of the
orchard, the only words he could hear from the gardener's mouth was: "Sure
a pity!" He didn't fully understand these words, however, and he repeated
over and over again: "See everyone? I knew I could make it on my
own!"
Only too late he found out, to his horror, that his fate
would be FAR from ideal: "No, no, no," he cried. "Not the fire!
I didn't do anything wrong. I wanted to prove myself and live independently.
No, no. Not the fire!"
But the smoke prevented him from seeing the tears in the
gardener's eyes.
One day the Master Gardener pronounced these words:
"Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by
itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you
remain in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I
in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." (John
15:4-5 NIV)
Why is it so hard for us to realize the importance of
these words? Way too often we find ourselves vying for the driver's seat. We
want to be in control! We know what we are doing! We want to prove ourselves to
everyone. Only too late do we find ourselves in complete misery, realizing that
we cannot do anything on our own.
We wonder why we aren't bearing any fruit. We read Gal
5:22-23: "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control." NIV and we
conclude that we need to try harder. But the harder we try, the more we find
ourselves utterly frustrated. We can't seem to be able to bear this kind of
fruit. We may have some of them, but not all. The important ones are still
missing.
"Why Lord?" we cry. "Why am I not bearing
this fruit?"
The answer is simple: Apart from Jesus "we can do
nothing!" John 15:4. "No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must
remain in the vine." NIV
Way too often we try to remedy the symptoms instead of
the problem itself.
"I will take a self-help course on producing 'joy'
in my life," we decide. "Then I will learn the 102 steps to master
'peace' and then…"
No matter what kind of effort we put forth, our problem
will remain. Symptoms can be treated, but healing can only be done if the
problem itself is treated. Complete freedom is only possible by complete
dependence on Jesus.
The "I want to be independent!" reasoning leads
only to bondage and certain death. The only solution to all of our problems can
be found solely in Jesus Christ. Without Him, we are driving ourselves straight
to disaster. We may be able to be successful on our own for a short while, but
we can't fool ourselves forever: We are not free! The price of our own success
is steep! Is it worth it?
Who is in your driver's seat? Do you let Jesus be the
driver in all that you do? Without Him no fruit will be forth coming!
Dear Lord, we want You to be in the driver’s seat. We
pray today that we won’t try to do it on our own but let You lead us and give
us the strength. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
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