January 22

GRAFTED INTO THE VINE
by Ray Prinzing

"Abide in Me, and I in you. And the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in Me."                                         (John 15:4).

All that the Father has put into the Vine, the engrafted branches are to draw out, as they abide in the Vine.  Severed from the Vine we are sure to whither and fade away, but in aiding in Him we have access to all the resources resident in the Vine.  One may not know at present just what all it means by the word "fulness," but that need not hinder us from saying, whatever God means by it, that is what we desire."  Furthermore, since salvation is declared to be "to the uttermost,"  (Hebrew 7:25), He will not let us be satisfied with anything less, nor will He cease His work in us until we have been brought into this full glory in Him.

The word "branch" used here, from the Greek "klema," means a cutting, a slip.  Same expression used in our grafting today, slips, shoots, or a cutting.  Not the big, stiff branches, but those tender little twigs.  Even while some would exalt themselves, heady, high-minded, we need to remember that God is taking His humble ones, and merging them into one with His fulness.  We recognize our nothingness, that we might receive of His all-sufficiency.

Engraft means to insert a cutting or slip into another plant so that a permanent union is effected.  Williams translation bears out this thought of UNION,  "You must remain in union with ME and I will remain in union with you.  Just as no branch by itse4lf can bear fruit unless it remains united to the vine, so you cannot unless you REMAIN IN UNION WITH ME."  It is not some weird relationship with "in and out: or "up and down" experience, but a permanent union so that the branch constantly draws the life and vitality of the vine.  A union that endures through all ages to come, a true everlasting life.  O wonder of the ages, O miracle divine, each lefe a new creation when grafted to the Vine.