#thetruevine

Buildings take a lot of time and effort to build. You had probably already realised this, but I hadn’t fully grasped it until I took part in the building of a workshop during a summer trip to Tanzania two years ago. It really is painstakingly slow and hard work. Especially the foundations - which is even more frustrating because you’re never even going to be able to see those parts once it’s built! Nightmare. Anyway building foundations is slow going, but surprisingly, putting walls up is actually pretty quick. I remember the walls to our workshop going up in just a few days’ time and being shocked at the relative ease of the process (probably because we employed local brick layers to be honest). The structure flew up once the foundations were secured. 

I’ve been a follower of Jesus for just under three years now and I see a lot of similarities between building this workshop, and my journey of faith. Early on in my journey of faith I tried to build too quickly, I had shaky foundations and yet I tried to build grand walls all by myself. Not surprisingly these quickly fell down, time and time again - and this ultimately almost cost me my faith, when a challenge sent me reeling, my walls crumbling, almost to the point of refuting my allegiance to Jesus. Fortunately I was not the only building around, and I had the opportunity to wander in community, observing some fine and steady houses, examining their brickwork and the sturdiness of their foundations. And ultimately this helped me to come back to God.

But now I was back at foundation level again. This time, the rush to build a house was less pressing. My focus was on God, rather than on making myself look good. The focus was on making Him big, rather than making me big. Building a sturdy, rather than a pretty, house. And this was therefore a much slower process. A process of understanding who God is. A process of developing a knowledge of His word. A process of stepping into the giftings He has given to me. A process of learning to worship and praise in every part of my life. And soon I found the foundations were set, fortified, solid. The brickwork could commerce.

Unlike my Tanzanian brickwork, this brickwork seemed much slower. Like an artist painting the perfect masterpiece; a brush stroke, a stepping back, a redoing or undoing. A moment of change, followed by a moment of reflection, followed by a moment of action. A slow process to be sure, but a good process. A process of building a beautiful house, not a mere shed (although I’ve seen some pretty impressive sheds in my time so maybe this comparison doesn’t hold quite as well as I’d like it to!). As I learned to build on my foundation, to step out in my faith, trusting in God, of reading my Bible regularly, of talking to God more openly and readily and of putting plans and events into His hands, I began to feel the house going up.

The house is a happy metaphor, but God gives us a much better one. He talks of vines and branches; Jesus as ‘the true vine’, and us as the branches bearing ‘fruit’.

 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4 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 15:1-4

He supplies us with all the nutrients we will need and gives us everything He has, as the vine does to the branch, and because of this, fruit comes! He gives us all the building materials, labour force, and energy we need, and so the walls go up! Fruit (or walls) in our life come in the form of characteristics which point to God and show others how good He is. And fruit does come! I have seen lots of changes in my own attitudes and character over the last few years; more patience, more peace, more love, more compassion, more passion, all of which I put down to the Vine who gives me true life. The Bible also talks of a pruning and cutting process, the same process I observed as the painstaking task of the artist painting his masterpiece. God cuts us back, he helps us to bear more fruit through pruning, and helps us to get rid of bad characteristics through cutting.

What I have learnt through all of this is that it is all in God’s timing. No matter how much ‘get up and go’ I have, God will grow me as He sees best - which is ultimately the best way. He will cut me back. He will harvest my good fruit, and prune it to produce more. He wants me to have firm foundations so that I will be a rock for Him for all my life, not just for a fun season.