The world we live in is in total opposition to a life in Christ Jesus. In the world, we are taught to be independent, don’t rely on anyone, get up and do it yourself, pull yourself up by your bootstraps, but a life in Christ is total dependence upon Him. John 15:1-8 is all about dependence rather than independence, yet being dependent upon Jesus is the most freedom a person will ever have. Sounds like a contradiction but it isn’t. The passage in John tells us that Christ is the vine and we are the branches, and apart from Him, we can do nothing. Jesus is our root system, He is what holds us firmly in place, grounded when everything in the world seems to be spinning out of control. In Him, we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:29).
Have you noticed what happens to a branch that gets ripped away from the vine? It dies. There is no nourishment from the roots, so instead of that branch continuing to grow and produce fruit, it withers and dies. The branch is useless away from vine. So it is with us. Nothing we do in life, no matter what kind of success we might have, no matter how much money we make, or how famous we become, none of it is worth anything if we are not connected to the Vine that is Jesus Christ.
The rich and famous have problems, perhaps more problems than the rest of us. They have addiction problems, their children are out of control, they are unhappy and seem to have no direction. That’s because all of the riches and fame in the world cannot produce satisfaction in the soul. True satisfaction can only come from one place, and that’s from the Lord. We have to fill that God-shaped hole with God. Nothing else fits. Nothing else satisfies because our spirits are created to worship only One. When we worship at the feet of the gods of this world, we cannot find the peace we desire, or the satisfaction our souls search desperately for.
“For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul?” (Matthew 16:26).
How many Hollywood “stars” have we seen take their own lives, overdose on drugs, be victims of murder, or have their lives so out of control they become jokes on late night talk shows? Money, fame, and success does not equal happiness and contentment. Very few “stars” stand up for what is right and good and pure. Very few will speak about God, and the few Christian “stars” in Hollywood are ostracized by the rest.
We see famous politicians, businessmen and women, people who are known for nothing but being rich who face the very same problems in their lives as the rest of us. Money is not a cure for what is wrong in our lives. Fame is not the cure either. If it was, those rich and famous people would not be in such pain and turmoil. The only cure for our souls, for the world as it is today, is a right relationship with God Almighty through His Son Jesus Christ.
“From whence does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made Heaven and earth.” (Psalm 121:1)
Our only real, lasting help comes from Jesus Christ. He is the only One who can save us from ourselves, the world, and what is to come after our physical deaths. Afraid to die? If you don’t know Jesus as your Savior, you better be! What comes after this life is eternity. Forever and ever and ever… A time that we cannot even truly understand. Eternity is infinite, without end, no time, no calendar, no concept of life as we now know it. Yet we will live eternally. After we die here, and we are all going to die, our souls leave our bodies and go to eternity. Where that eternity is spent is totally up to us.
“If you confess with your mouth… you will be saved,” (Roman 10:9). If you have accepted Christ as your Savior and made Him Lord of your life, you are saved. You will spend eternity in Heaven experiencing the Lord in a way we cannot even comprehend in this life. It will be joyous, wonderful, and beyond words. We will be with our friends and family who went before us, as long as they also knew Jesus as their Savior. If we had young children or infants who passed away, they will be there waiting to welcome us. I have a son, three daughters, a step-daughter, and three grandsons who are in Heaven awaiting my arrival. My grandmother is there too. What a family reunion that is going to be! The Bible says we will “know as we are known,” (1 Corinthians 13:12). That means we will know one another just as we know them now on earth in this life. But more importantly, we will see Christ face-to-face and we will know Him as He is, (1 John 3:2).
©2017 DWB Publishing
Available in paperback, Kindle and now on Audible narrated by Christy R. Diachenko
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