Less is More

Today I had second thoughts about last Sunday's passage John 15:1-8. As I have said at church, this passage in John makes it clear that God wants to see growth in each of his children. "This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit..." (Jn. 15:8).

But how can we grow? First and foremost, we grow by abiding in God. Abiding is a word that means going with or following something or someone. For example, if you follow the laws of a particular land or country, then you are called a law-abiding person. The same thing can be said about us Christians. If we say that we have accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, then we can be called God abiding people.

Growth happens when we abide to the great Vine (God). Apart from him we can do nothing. So what happens then when we don't grow? John says we will be like those branches that will eventually wither and be thrown into the fire to be burned. 

Are you abiding in God? Are you relying in God or in other things?

Second, we grow by pruning (reduction). John says, "...while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful" (vs.2b) What is interesting about this concept is that such thought goes against one of the main values of this culture---to have more.

For the most parts, Americans measure growth (success) by how much stuff or property a person owns. Life in the West has always been about who has the most toys. The more you own the more successful you are. However, the more you own the more things that can go between you and God.

What things in your life are getting in the way of your relationship with God? What things in your life that are in need of pruning (or reducing)? The problem with this culture is that, most of the time,  people are not willing to downsize or downgrade. We always want to super-size. We always want to upgrade. We always want more...more...and more in life. Unfortunately, these things have a way of affecting our relationship with God.

The question now becomes what is more important to us: to have more of the stuff here in earth and be spiritually poor; or do we want to down-size a bit and still have a super-sized spirituality? As the gospel of Mark once said: "What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?" (8:36).