Joni Eareckson Tada: Sharing Hope

Shana: This is Shana on Joni Eareckson Tada Sharing Hope. Does your technology influence the way you relate to God? Well, here’s a great analogy from our dear friend Joni.

Joni Eareckson Tada: If you juggle lots of electronic devices, I bet you can identify. Often nowadays we "abide in Jesus" as though we were charging our iPad or iPhone. We sit down for a quiet time or a time of prayer and we think, "How long do I have to be plugged into God today in order to get enough of a spiritual charge to go with my morning?" Jesus does not say, "I am the power cord and you are the smartphone." No. In John chapter 15, he says, "I am the vine and you are the branch."

Life in Christ is not a matter of going to a conference to "get our spiritual batteries charged." We don't go to Bible study so we can live off its spiritual energy for a week until we require another surge of divine power. It's a convenient metaphor and a contemporary one, and a lot of people talk about getting their spiritual batteries charged, but it is not the metaphor the Bible invites us to use. We are branches that are connected to Christ the vine.

With him, as with a vine and a branch, it is impossible to disconnect, to unplug. You can't do it. Abiding is living in a constant awareness of total dependency on Jesus. It's organic, not sporadic. It involves a constant flow of life-giving sap from the Holy Spirit, not a spiritual charge that only takes us to 80 percent. Abiding is a 100 percent relationship. But how do we abide? Well, let’s go back to that electronic analogy for a moment. Because things that require a charge involve a hookup, that is, a docking station onto which fits a charging port connector.

Other devices have a male plug and a female plug. Either way, the assumption is that you connect for a little while, get charged up, then conveniently disconnect and go on your way, benefiting from a full power supply. But that power supply dwindles fast and so, when your iPhone is at 40 percent, you look for a way to plug it back in, right? But that's not the way a vine and a branch work. Because a branch is one with the vine, just as you are one with Christ.

If you are a true disciple of Jesus, it is impossible to have a disconnect. It says in fact that without him, you can do nothing. You are not only powerless, you are cut off. And as a branch remains in the vine, it draws on a constant supply of life-giving nourishment. The branch is supported by the vine. The branch is grounded in the vine. The branch is one and the same as the vine.

When you think about it, where does the vine end and the branch begin? You can't really say when you're fellowshipping in Jesus. When you're abiding in him, it's never a matter of him leaving off and you taking over. No, rather people look at you and they see Jesus. Just like the Father looks at Jesus and he sees you.

Shana: And friend, you would not believe how much stress and pressure is dissipated when we learn how to be one with Christ in a beautiful union of abiding. So please, go to joniradio.org today where you can listen to this program again and you'll find many more encouraging words from Joni. And while you're there, leave us your prayer request so we can support you in prayer.

Remember, the branch is supported by the vine. The branch is one with the vine. So make sure you're connected to the vine in a life-giving relationship with Jesus Christ. Because with him, there's never a disconnect.