“I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener” (John 15:1).

 “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30).

I am a gardener. This time of year, I am picking tomatoes and cucumbers more than anything else. Until the last couple of weeks I was also picking lots of blueberries. Toward the end, one of the big blueberry branches got broken. It was attached, but just hanging on. Some of the berries on this broken branch had ripened, but some were still immature. I picked the ripe ones, of course, and hoped that the green berries would continue to ripen. They did for a day or two, but as the branch withered, the berries withered also. I tasted one and it was tasteless. Funny thing—earlier in the season, one of my first tomato plants to have tomatoes also had a broken branch. When I found it, it was attached, but just barely. I was crushed to think that these little green tomatoes would not become big, juicy, red tomatoes; but I had a plan. I got some gardening tape and taped the branch to the stem. It worked! The branch, which had been hanging by a thread, reattached and was able to get enough nutrients from the trunk (which is actually a vine) for the tomatoes to mature. Even though the branches have all the leaves, it is the vine that is lifegiving. It transfers nutrients and fluids from the roots to the branch with its fruit.

Jesus called himself the true vine. In John 15:5, Jesus says “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”

Just like those tomatoes or blueberries that had no chance of growing to maturity and serving their life purpose without being attached to the mother plant, likewise we can only bear good fruit if we are attached to Jesus. 

I want to point out something crucial in all of these “I AM” statements by Jesus. While the first two words — “I AM” – are essential to Jesus’ identity, the third word is just as important. “The” is a type of adjective, called an article because it is used to describe whether a noun is specific or nonspecific. Other articles are the words “a” and “an,” both of which are nonspecific. “The” is the only article which is specific. Earlier in this devotion, I said I was a gardener. But I am not trying to put myself on equal footing with God, who is THE gardener. I’m just any old gardener, but God is the one and only gardener, vinedresser, Holy Father.

John 15:5 says to remain in Jesus in order to bear much fruit. How do we remain in Christ?  Remember that Jesus said: “I and the Father are one.” In one of Moses’ final speeches to the children if Israel, when he was 100 years old, he told them to choose life by being “…completely faithful to the Lord your God, love him, and do whatever he tells you” (Deuteronomy 30:20a). It makes sense, then, that remaining in Christ is remaining faithful and obedient to God and remaining faithful and obedient to God is remaining in Christ.

We can only bear fruit if we are alive, and “The Lord is the only one who can give life” (Deuteronomy 20b).

This series of devotions based on Jesus’ seven “I AM” statements began with the July 7 devotion entitled “Who is God,” in which we tried to answer that question. We then then explored Jesus’ divinity based on his “I AM” Statements in the next seven devotions, and how they relate to the message of the entire Bible of redemption and reconciliation.

Jesus further reveals his divinity to us when, three times in the Book of Revelation, Jesus tells John: “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End” (Revelation 22:13).

The best way to know about God is to study His Word. The best way to know God is to believe what his Word says to us and to put that belief into practice. What does this mean for you and me? It makes all the difference to me when I pray. If I begin my prayer as Jesus instructed, “Our Father in Heaven, hallowed be your name,” and when I ponder who He is and how He has kept his promises throughout all time, then I can pray with confidence, “Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.” God is who He says he is, and He can do what he says He will do.

In Christ,

Judy

Psalm 19:14

“I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me will live, even though he dies” (John 11:25).

The story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead is well-known for several things. One, this passage contains the shortest verse in the Bible, well-known to those of us who have been challenged to recite Scripture on the spot – “Jesus wept” (John 11:35). Two, Jesus miraculously raised a man from the dead. And three, Jesus made one of his most outrageous claims: that He was the resurrection and those who believed in him could be guaranteed eternal life. In fact, he was claiming his Divinity.

After presenting Himself as The Resurrection and The Life, Jesus asked Martha an all-important question: “Do you believe this?” (John 11:26).

From Jesus’ question, we see that we have a choice as to whether we believe Jesus is who He says He is. We have always had this choice. In fact, in one of Moses’ final speeches to the children if Israel, when he was 100 years old, he told them they had a choice between life and success or death and disaster. He recommended that they choose life:

“Today I am giving you a choice. You can choose life and success or death and disaster…. Choose life! Be completely faithful to the Lord your God, love him, and do whatever he tells you. The Lord is the only one who can give life, and he will let you live a long time in the land that he promised to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.  (Deuteronomy 30:15, 19b-20).

Joshua also called on his people to make a choice. “Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” (Joshua 24:14-15).

If you carefully read the above passage, you will note that Joshua accurately tells his people that their choice is not if they will worship, but whom they will worship. Jesus also tells us this about our choices: “You can’t worship two gods at once. Loving one god, you’ll end up hating the other. Adoration of one feeds contempt for the other. You can’t worship God and Money both.” (Matthew 6:24 CEV).

We will die one day. And when we die, one of two things will happen. We will go on to heaven—to eternal life with our heavenly Father, or we will go to eternal damnation, to hell, separated from God forever, death. Choose Life. Choose Jesus,  because “The Lord is the only one who can give life” (Deuteronomy 30:20).

When Jesus asked Martha that all-important question: “Do you believe this?” (John 11:26), she answered“Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God who was to come into the world” (John 11:27). Martha believed that Jesus is God, that he is the Bread of Life, the Light of the World, the Door, the Way, The Truth, The Resurrection and The Life. May our answer likewise be, “Yes Lord, I Believe.”

In Christ,

Judy

Psalm 19:14

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6).

There was an interesting exchange between Jesus and Pilate when Jesus was brought before him. Pilate presented the accusation as he had heard it from the Jewish leadership. Then, ^“Jesus said, ‘My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.’ ^‘You are a king, then!’ said Pilate. Jesus answered, ‘You say that I am a king. In fact, the reason I was born and came into the world is to testify to the truth. Everyone on the side of truth listens to me.’ ‘What is truth?’ retorted Pilate. With this he went out again to the Jews gathered there and said, ‘I find no basis for a charge against him.’” (John 18:36-38).

“What is truth?” asked Pilate. And that is the question we should be continually asking.

All of Jesus’ I AM statements are supremely important for us to believe and receive in order to have eternal life. But there is one that seems to be foundational for our understanding of all the others, and that is that Jesus is the Truth.

It is telling that the arch enemy, Satan, is known by his dishonesty and deceit. Jesus told the Jews who were challenging his claim to be God’s son, “You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” (John 8:44)

What is truth?

Truth is about honesty. All school children in my day grew up learning that George Washington, the father of our country, could not tell a lie about chopping down that cherry tree. But truth is about so much more than honesty in admitting our wrongdoing, or even about our honest testimony in court as in “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor” (the ninth commandment).

The subject of truth is important to consider because of all the deceit that surrounds us. We’ve all heard about “fake news.” Most of us are now savvy enough, or cynical enough, not to believe everything we hear or read about current events. How sad that is that there are so few trusted news sources. This is not a new thing.  Even in the Old Testament, “Truth is nowhere to be found, and whoever shuns evil becomes a prey. The Lord looked and was displeased that there was no justice.” (Isaiah 59:5). How can we know what really is the truth?

And while the spread of fake news is intentional, there are other unintentional sources of untruth. This one gets rather personal, but my brothers and I used to joke about our dad “rewriting history.” Don’t get me wrong, my dad was a wonderful Christian man. But his memory was distorted. Clearly, there were things that he remembered about my childhood that were distinctly different from how I remembered it. I have since learned that our brains can be rewired. If we tell ourselves something enough times, our brain will “remember” it as if it happened that way rather than how it actually happened. Knowing that, I can’t really be sure if Dad was wrong or if it was me who was wrong about events from our past, but clearly, one, or maybe even both of us, misremembered. What is truth?

And then, perhaps worst of all, are those who tell us that truth does not matter. Your truth does not have to agree with my truth so long as you are true to yourself. This is called relativism, and it is deadly. “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness” (Romans 1:18).

I don’t know about you, but all this really alarms me. If there’s one thing I have learned, it is that there cannot be multiple conflicting truths. Either young George chopped down the cherry tree or he didn’t. Either the U.S. landed on the moon in 1969 or we didn’t. Either Dad’s car broke down so that we couldn’t take that trip, or it didn’t. And finally, there can be only one Creator; there can only be one Sovereign God.  Everyone and everything else are created by the one true Creator; everyone and everything else is subject to the one true God who is Sovereign over all.

So, in this culture of falsity, fake news, deceit, corruption, and even fading memories, where can we safely and reliably turn to for The Truth? You know where I’m going. The Bible is the source of knowledge about Truth. It is the filter by which we sift out all the conflicting information that bombards us. It is the lens by which we examine everything. The Bible is True. Jesus is the Truth. Jesus is the Word. The Word is Truth.

• The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth (John 1:14).
• For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ (John 1:17).
• Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free (John 8:32).

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we must stay in the Word. It is our only reliable source of life-giving truth:

• Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long (Psalm 25:5).
• But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come (John 16:13).
• Therefore, put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace (Romans 6:13-15).
• This is good, and pleases God our Savior, ⁴who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus.” (1 Timothy 2:3-5).

And just a few more words to those of us who minister to others (and that’s all of us):

• If you point these things out to the brothers and sisters, you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, nourished on the truths of the faith and of the good teaching that you have followed (1 Timothy 4:6).
• Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15).
• Opponents must be gently instructed, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth (2 Timothy 2:25).

“For the word of the Lord is right and true; he is faithful in all he does” (Psalm 33:4).

In Christ,

Judy