By Milly Smart

We all know that in God’s economy, everything is upside down. When we give, we receive so much more. When we are at our weakest, we are strong in Christ. When we are humble, God raises us up. When we lay our lives down, we truly gain them in fullness. Another ‘upside down’ that God has been teaching me lately is about how he trains and qualifies us.

Think about it. In all other areas of life, when we are trained, the aim is to become independent. My mum used to help me get dressed. I do that by myself now. My dad taught me to ride a bike by holding the back while I learned to balance. My bike is now my main form of transport and my dad no longer runs behind me. After months of training with a driving instructor, the day I passed my test was a big deal because I was finally allowed to travel on my own! It shouldn’t surprise us, though, that God’s way is completely different; the end goal is never independence from God, but dependence on Him.

Recently I have found myself in a fairly testing season full of striving and toiling, and unsurprisingly, I have seen less fruit. I thought I had come out of the training ground and become qualified for independence. I so quickly and easily fall into the trap of thanking God for the gifts He has given me, then running off and trying to use them independently of Him! God, in all His goodness, brought me back to one of my favourite memory verses, John 15:5 which says ‘I am the vine, you are the branches. If you remain in me and I remain in you, you will bear much fruit. Apart from me you can do nothing.’

I love this metaphor for its ‘organic-ness’. The thing that blows my mind is that plants don’t try to bear fruit. Read that again. Plants don’t strive and toil and work to produce fruit. When they are connected to their source, which provides for all their needs, producing fruit is the most natural thing in the world. Jesus is the Vine, He is our Source and He provides everything we need.

We are the branches. Branches should never go it alone. When they do they turn into sticks that are thrown for dogs. That is not what I want to be! I want to be like the tree in Psalm 1 that ‘bears fruit in every season’. And I can only do that by remaining dependent on my source. The minute I believe that I am qualified is the very minute I have to remember that ‘apart from Him, I can do nothing’. God is training me for dependence and He will continue to for the rest of my days.

Today, let’s put down our pride and ambition and make every effort to root ever more fully into the Vine.