Calling Out to God #15

As Jesus shared in the Upper Room with His disciples, giving His last and new testament, He gave lots of instructions how things are to be carried out:

4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. 7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 

The picture of the vine and branches was extremely familiar to the people of Israel, as it was used by the prophets to picture them as God's people, and practically speaking, the looked around them every day and saw the olive vines and grape vines. When we think about growing up physically and mentally as people, the expectation is that we will become independent - that we will develop skills to support ourselves, find a spouse with whom we set out on our own and establish a new family, apart from our dependency on our birth family.  But spiritually we will never get to that point with our heavenly Father or His Son.  We will always need to stay connected like a branch to the main vine. If we cut off ties, we will wither and die; we will never bear the fruit God intends; we will never do the things God wants us to do as part of His plan. We need to realize our dependence on Him and ask.  This, of course, is not a selfish asking for what will make us feel good or comfortable or sinfully indulgent - just before these words Jesus talks about being "clean", and just afterward He talks about keeping His commands.  God wants us to abide with Him to live in His house, under His roof, under His rules, under His provision, because there we fill find true joy. What would it be like to live under the same roof and never talk with someone? Sadly some people know. But that is not abiding with someone. God wants us to abide with Him, which means we need to talk with Him, and ask Him: what our assignment is, for the provisions we need for that assignment, and for the right attitude in carrying out our assignment. It sounds like we have a lot of talking, a lot of asking to do.