devotion

Be the Plant

/ Ken May / Leave a comment

One Spring when we lived in Spring Lake, NC, I bought some flowers for our front porch. Not being much of a horticulturist, I didn’t take into account the amount of sun the plant was suited for and I got something that was fairly low light even though our porch had direct sunlight for probably close to eight hours. Needless to say, the plant died a quick and scorching death. I threw the pot behind the shrubs thinking I would take care of it later. (Don’t judge me. You know you do it, too.) Fast forward to September of that same year. I was trimming the hedges and I discovered this.

What was thought to have died sprouted new life. Remember that this is what God does with us. When we are dead in our sins, he gives new life. When we encounter hardship to the point that we despair even of life (2 Cor. 1:8-9), he gives new life and brings good out of anything (Rom. 8:28-29). What’s the lesson? Whatever you are going through right now, be the plant.

You Will Bear Much Fruit

/ Ken May / Leave a comment

This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

John 15: 8(NIV)

Boomer Sooner!  My family and I live and die with Oklahoma University— particularly football.  We can’t wait for that September kick off.  We wear our jerseys in our home on game days.  We have a tradition where I smoke a couple of racks of ribs for game day.  When the temperature is right outside, we turn on the game, turn off the air conditioner and open the windows so we can get as close as possible to sitting in the stadium.  Even in the lean years when our team isn’t doing so well, it’s still the same.  Why?  Because we are Sooner fans.  It’s our nature.  Our actions tell the story and give the evidence of our love for Oklahoma and Oklahoma University.

That’s what fruit is— the outcome of your nature.  Why are we concerned about bearing fruit in our relationship with Jesus?  Because it’s in our nature.  Our new nature.  And if we have a new nature, we are abiding in him.  If we are abiding in him, we are giving evidence of that.  We are bearing fruit.

Ask whatever you wish?

/ Ken May / Leave a comment

Ask whatever you wish . . .

John 15: 7 (NIV)

I cannot ask something to be contrary to its nature.  I cannot ask a sloth to fly.  It can only hang on tree branches.  I cannot ask a crabapple tree to produce grapes.  It is contrary to its nature.

When I as a branch abide in the vine, my nature is to be of the vine.  I cannot ask the vine to not produce fruit in me.  It is not the nature of the vine.  I cannot ask the vine to produce thorns in me.  It is not the nature of the vine.  The vine cannot produce something contrary to its nature.  So neither can I produce something contrary to the nature of the vine when I abide in it.

Abiding is two way

/ Ken May / Leave a comment

Remain in me as I also remain in you . . . if you remain in me and my words remain in you . . .

John 15:4,7 (NIV)

When I travel to see my kids, the same road that takes me there brings me home.  It’s a two way road.  And there is an additional way that road is two way: just as I can take that road to see them, they can take that road to see me.  It’s two way.  

Abiding is two way.  If we abide in him, he abides in us.  We don’t pledge ourselves to a cold set of facts.  Abiding in him is not ethereal, intellectual assent.  It is a relationship where he travels the road to abide with us just as we have traveled it to abide with him.

His words are the mechanism of this abiding.  We abide in him as we internalize his words.  Through his words taking residence in us, he abides in us.  We have come to equate his words with the physical printing of the Bible that we carry with us.  And the Bible certainly is his word.  But we must expand our thinking when it comes to his words.  His words are his teachings, his philosophy, his ethic, his character, his aim, his goal, his mission.  Having his words abide in you is much more than reading words from a page or even memorizing passages.  It is letting them invade you, shape you and form you.  When we abide or remain in him in this way, he abides in us.

Pruning (John 15:1-11)

/ Ken May / Leave a comment

How many times have you set a New Year’s resolution to get healthy?  Or maybe you already work out, but you decide to take it to the next level.  So you set that goal.  “I want to run two miles in under 20 minutes.”  Or, “I want to increase my max lift by twenty-five pounds in six months.”  But now you are faced with another question— do you want to put in the work?  The setting of the goal can be exciting.  But eventually the work must start and the excitement ebbs.

Most of us aspire to walk closer with the Lord.  We want to be more faithful and more spiritual.  But then comes the work.  The work of growing in Christ is pruning.  Jesus was clear— good healthy branches will undergo pruning.  Picture what pruning is.  Pruning takes a sharp knife and cuts away living parts of the vine.  At the moment, it hurts, but it is necessary for the overall health and growth of the vine.  Pruning in your life hurts, but it always yields greater overall health and is always worth it.

We are the Branches

/ Ken May / Leave a comment

What if you woke up tomorrow and it was not guaranteed that your lungs would remove oxygen from the air and infuse it into your bloodstream?  You can actually do an experiment right now to see what it would be like.  Hold your breath.  For as long as you can, stop breathing.  Despite how crucial is the capillary action of our lungs, it is so commonplace we take it for granted.

Our union with Christ is absolutely crucial, but sometimes it has become so commonplace we take it for granted.  No experiment exists to help us envision what it is like to not be in union with him— to be branches securely connected to the vine.  But imagine if you can not being able to pray.  Imagine not having the constant presence of the Holy Spirit.  Imagine not being assured of your eternal destiny.  All of these things are afforded to us by our union with him.  It is really, truly remarkable that we are bonded deeply in Christ.

Abiding

/ Ken May / Leave a comment

I was walking through the woods one day and stumbled upon the strangest sight I had ever seen.  It was a tree branch.  As a branch, it was pretty ordinary, but two things were remarkable: first, it was suspended in the middle of the air.  It just hung there on its own completely self sufficient.  Second, the tree grew out of the branch.  That’s right.  You just read that last sentence again to make sure you read it correctly.  The branch didn’t grow out of the tree.  The tree grew out of the branch.

If you are still reading at this point, you are saying “preposterous!”  By now, you have probably written me off as a crack-pot or maybe even a crack-head.  And if I had been serious, you would be right.  About the preposterous-ness… not about me being a crack-head.  Trees do not grow out of branches.  Branches grow out of trees.  Branches cannot exist on their own.  They can only exist if they are firmly connected to the tree.

Yet, too often, we treat our relationship with God in such a way.  We treat ourselves as if we are the essential element, and he is something that emanates from us.  We have it backwards.  What follows is a series of articles from John 15:1-11 that will focus us on being securely rooted in him.  Abiding.