Grafted into Christ
Read: John 15:1-5
"I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit." (v. 5)
I grow apple trees. My favorite is the Honeygold. The seed from a Honeygold apple will produce an apple tree, but it will not be a Honeygold apple tree. Some fruit trees can only be reproduced by grafting.
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Grafting is a fascinating process, a trick we pull on Mother Nature. Two plants are cut, sliced open, so that their living cells are exposed, and then they are pressed together, each growing into the other, and thus they become one. The stem of one tree is pressed into the stock of another tree and—viola—a Honeygold
Two organisms cannot be grafted together, however, unless they are both wounded. They both have to be cut, bruised. On the cross, Jesus was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities. How about you? Are you wounded? Bruised by life, by other people, by your own sinfulness and rebellion? When we bring our wounded selves, our broken hearts and broken marriages, to Jesus, we become grafted into him and he into us.
In Christ there is forgiveness for the past and freedom to begin anew—in your marriage, your career, whatever vines have become damaged. "Abide in me," said Jesus, "as I abide in you" (v. 4).
Prayer: Lord, I bring my wounded self to you.
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