“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it my bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.” -John 15:1-5 ESV

I struggle to have my mind and spirit rest on Jesus. I’m much more likely for my mind, and therefore, spirit to try to rest on some other person or idea. But I don’t know any other idea or any other person well enough to rest myself on them, and that is asking too much of either an invented idea or a created person. Only Jesus, the incarnation of the Creator God and the Savior of my soul, can sustain my mind and spirit for all times.

“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” -Matthew 11:28-30

So how do we do this? I have come up with two everyday examples to illustrate this approach to Jesus, to abiding in Jesus. They are not clear one-on-one examples, but these illustrations might help you grow in your relationship with Jesus. If they don’t work for you, or you don’t see the connection, I’m sorry, you can ignore these illustrations if they don’t seem helpful to you.

My cat is really good at finding my lap. I propose we should be acting like my cat when we approach Jesus, except for the great part is that we do not need to wait for God to sit down to be with Him. God is always ready for us to draw near to Him and rest with Him.

Another kind of reverse example has to do with crafting. If we are making perhaps a garment or some wall art, that piece is nothing if we don’t work on making it, and it is also worth very little if we do nothing with it after we are done making it. We are God’s workmanship. Let us live lives such that we act like we are crafts of God and remain close to our Maker.

Returning to the passage, we can’t do anything when we are not connected to the vine. We are the branches; Jesus is the vine. Following Jesus and abiding as a branch is attached to a vine is how we bear the fruit of the Holy Spirit, which makes life truly lived.