Pouring From an Empty Bucket?

“Remain in me, as I also 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.”

John 15:4

It’s baseball season, which immediately brings 3 rules of my little league 3rd-base-coaching experience to mind:

1. Runner on 1st base? Send the steal sign to take 2nd base. They’ll make it a high percentage of the time. 100% to be exact.

2. Many kids have no future in baseball. But those drawings in the dirt between pitches point to some future Picassos in our midst.

3. Watch the coach. If 3rd-base-coaching taught me anything, it’s that you’ve got to keep connection with the one who has experience you don’t possess, sees what you can’t, and knows what you don’t.

Is it any wonder why Jesus - shortly before his crucifixion - commanded his disciples as he did? Every bit of their lives from that point on would hinge on their connection with him.

And so do ours.

We’re either bearing fruit or blocking it

One of the biggest mistakes Christians make is starting with serving.

They tally their attendance, studies, feet washed, and everything else. And many come to the end of it with less joy, less life, and more baggage as a result. Don’t get me wrong - serving others is commanded of us.

But we must ask ourselves: is it done for love, or from it?

Remaining in Christ ensures we live from Divine love’s reservoir, specifically:

Our resources - While it’s tempting to wake up everyday mustering and manufacturing what we need to deal with the day, abiding invites us to let go of being the sources of our resources. The connection to Christ contains everything we need. The abider knows they can’t pour anything out from an empty bucket.

Our perspectives - Without a connection to our source of life and love, we drastically misinterpret what happens in our lives. While we’re prone to interpret hardship as God cutting us off, for those who remain in Christ, the reality is they’re being cut back. It’s pruning in service of making us more fruitful.

Our outcomes - In a world has its own definition of being successful, those who remain in Christ find an outcome of greater substance: fruitful. We can rest in knowing God as the vinedresser and caretaker has a harvest in mind, and the processes of fruit-bearing are known and overseen by Him.

Yes, baseball season is upon us…and so is the harvest season.

No matter where this season finds you, one thing is clear: far less important than what we do is who we watch.

Until next week,

Nathan