We just returned from a seven day river cruise down the Rhine and Mosel Rivers in Europe. We stopped in 11 different cities in the Netherlands (Amsterdam and Volendam), Germany (Dusseldorf, Cologne, Koblenz, Cochem, Rudesheim, Mannheim and Speyer), France (Strasbourg) and Switzerland (Basel), and ended the tour with a night in Saint Louis, France so we could catch an early morning flight home. We got an interesting 50,000 foot overview of the cities as we wandered around, taking hundreds of pictures of the sights and scenes of these cities, trying to get an understanding of the centuries of history and the feelings of the local people today. Since all our meals were included on board, we didn’t have much opportunity to sample the local food, which saddened me a bit, since eating is one of my favorite things, and trying new foods is right up there, too. If you want to see some of the pictures from our trip, you can check them out here, on my Facebook page.
The trip started me thinking about a class I’m leading, based on “Secrets of the Vine” by Bruce Wilkinson in Sunday School at Faith Baptist Church in Cheboygan about bearing fruit as a Christian, and a related book I read while on the cruise, “The Fruit of the Vine” by Andrew Murray. Both are centered on Jesus’ teaching to His disciples in John 15. The thing that impressed me was the recurring theme of abiding. Eleven times Jesus uses a form of the word “abide” in the first 16 verses of the chapter, and He implies it many more times. That’s how we know the Father, that’s how we know the Son, that’s how we bear fruit, by abiding in Him. We, as professing Christians, don’t seem to understand that concept today. We like the 50,000 foot overview, the walking tour of our faith, and never take the time to delve into God’s word, communicate with Him in prayer, abide with Him. We like to be able to go to church on Sunday, maybe say “grace” before meals, send a prayer once in awhile, but that isn’t abiding in Him. That’s barely acknowledging Him. How much fruit can we bear when we take no nourishment from the Vine?
What we did in Europe was great for a whirlwind tour. We got what we paid for, and then some. It’s not a good way to live your life, though. Get involved in a Bible study group at church. If there isn’t one, start one! Spend some time in a personal Bible study. Spend some time in prayer – model your prayer as Jesus taught us: acknowledge your Father in heaven, bring glory to His name, ask for His will to work out in your life, bring your petitions to Him, confess your sins and ask forgiveness, and forgive others yourself.
Abide in Jesus Christ and remember what He said to close this section in verse 16: “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.”
