Our son recently tried out for the middle school basketball team. The only sport he’s ever officially participated in is swim (and he’s really good), but he’s never played a game of basketball in his life. He was definitely stepping out of his comfort zone. After practicing in the driveway with dribbling and shooting from different angles and distances, he did not make the team.
Sometimes I feel as though I should not have made the team when it comes to my faith. There are days that I fret and experience a bit more anxiety than I should because I fail to turn to God with my problems. I have moments that my temper flares a bit more easily because I’m not focusing on the grace I have received. And I’m sorry, but I personally think that Jesus should have flipped a few more tables and taken a whip to more people. But none of that would reflect being on Team Jesus, would it?
I certainly try to do things on my own way too often. The voice in my head that speaks from the flesh tells me to be like Jesus, WWJD, or This is a small thing so I can take care of it on my own… and any number of other lines of bad advice. When struggles come, I can either try to manage things in my own strengths and abilities, or I can rely on His. It’s not supposed to be me and then Jesus as back-up.
Jesus isn’t to be our back-up when we fail to imitate Him well in our own abilities. We’re not even called to imitate Him! We’re called to be in relationship with Him. It was all His idea and He made it possible. Even if that was it – being in relationship with Jesus – He took it deeper.
Let me ask you a rhetorical question: do you think our son would have done better in tryouts had he been trained by Michael Jordan? I would certainly think that it would have made a difference, but just because someone is trained by a pro doesn’t mean they’re going to make the middle school team. My son can try to imitate Michael Jordan all day long, but he’s still operating in his own skills, his own abilities, and with his own techniques and reflexes. But what if it were possible for Michael Jordan to operate his skills, abilities, reflexes, and techniques – coupled with his vast experience of the game – through our son?
My son, as much as it would have helped him in tryouts, can’t imitate Michael Jordan very well just like we can’t in our own willpower imitate Jesus. Like the Gatorade commercials from the 90’s, Be Like Mike, people can try to be like Mike, but sticking out their tongue as they attempt a lay-up doesn’t make them like Mike, and most of them can’t even dribble a ball the way Mike can.
I was recently reading in the book of John and read the part about the vine and the branches (John 15:4-5)… and wouldn’t you know it, I saw how I was trying to be a good branch, but I was doing it apart from the Vine. If my son were to go to tryouts and try to be a good player, he wouldn’t be nearly as good as going to tryouts with Michael Jordan playing through him.
“Live in me. Make your home in me just as I do in you. In the same way that a branch can’t bear grapes by itself but only by being joined to the vine, you can’t bear fruit unless you are joined with me. I am the Vine, you are the branches. When you’re joined with me and I with you, the relation intimate and organic, the harvest is sure to be abundant. Separated, you can’t produce a thing.” John 15:4-5 MSG
I love the wording of these two verses in The Message translation. Make your home in me just as I do in you… joined with me… the relation intimate and organic… separated, you can’t produce a thing. That’s pretty powerful! But what does that mean and how do we get that type of relationship with Him? What does it mean to be a good branch? What does it mean for Jesus to dwell in us?
To try to grasp the magnitude of what Jesus accomplished at the cross, we might need to step back for a better view. How can we begin to understand our relationship with Jesus unless we understand His relationship with God the Father?
We’re told in several places that Jesus and the Father are one (John 1:1, John 10:30, John 17:20-23 just to name a few). I’ve said before that it’s me plus three no matter the room I’m in, but for some reason this doesn’t seem to sink in very well, so let’s spell it out: I have the same relationship with God the Father that Jesus has. I know Jesus, therefore I know God. Jesus trusts the Father, therefore I know I can trust the Father.
Plainly, if Jesus has it, that means every single believer has it, too. Or at least access to it depending on the revelation of their intimate organic relationship. Remember, there are a lot of us trying to operate in the notion of trying to be like Mike instead of letting Mike operate through us.
I’m not living from a place of trying to get Jesus to be in me more or with me more often. He’s already there. He’s always with me, never to leave me or cast me aside (Hebrews 13:5). We’re not in a covenant of visitation (if we beg enough), but we’re in a covenant of habitation. In my relationship with God the Father, my starting point is exactly where Jesus stands with the Father… and they are ONE.
Trying to make everything happen and work out in my own strength is from my human nature, but I have Jesus in me. I’ve said it before, but here it is in case you missed it – no matter where I am or what I face, it’s Three plus me. Notice that it’s not me plus Three. In order to be a good branch, I have to receive from the Vine. Nothing that I will face in this world is to be considered my problem. It’s our problem. If I’m facing an unfortunate situation, Jesus is facing it with me – and is anything too difficult for God?
If you’ve already accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior, you’re already connected to the Vine. He has chosen us, He’s made us sons and daughters, He has blessed us with every spiritual blessing, He’s poured out grace upon grace to us, and we have been sealed tight with Him in us (Ephesians 1:4-14 and John 1:16). If you haven’t made a decision to accept Jesus, there’s no better time. He created you for a purpose, and He’s been knocking on the heart of your door. I pray that you’ll choose to be a branch.
My prayer for you… my prayer for myself… I don’t want to be like Jesus. It’s not enough to be like Him. I want Him to operate in me so thoroughly that my flesh isn’t even in the equation. In order for this to happen, most likely just a little bit at a time, I pray for greater wisdom and revelation. I pray for eyes to see the hope that He’s called us to. And I pray that my focus will remain on Him, the one true Vine, and that He would continue cultivating my life so that I could be a good branch.
