One Thing is Needful: Week Two-Our Relationship with Christ

Saturday night was movie night with our family.  We set up the projector to watch War Room.  (Which is a MUST see!  Third time for my husband and I, but the first for our kids.)  We were about 15 minutes into the movie when my six-year-old looked at us and asked, "WHAT is wrong with that man?"  She was talking about Tony, the husband and dad in the movie.  He was angry with everyone, especially his family.  He was dissatisfied with his wife; ignoring his daughter; short with his friends; being dishonest with work; and just overall crabby and unhappy with life.  I looked at her and replied, "He needs some Jesus!  Just keep watching!"

Kind of sounds a little like Martha doesn't it- frustrated with her sister, not happy with work, running around anxious and "cumbered."  Kind of sounds a lot like me at times too.  

Jesus tells a parable in Luke 15 comparing himself to a vine and us to the branches.

"I am the vine, ye are the branches.  He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit:  for without me ye can do nothing."  Luke 15:5

The vine is the source of life for the branches.  It's where their nourishment and strength comes.  Without the vine, no fruit can be produced.  In the same way, Jesus is our source of life.  When we are abiding in Him, then we are spiritually nourished and we will see the fruits of the spirit in our own lives.  Love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, faith, humbleness, and self-control are all products of being connected to Christ. 

I think JoAnna Weaver does a great job explaining our relationship to Christ in relation to the rest of our lives:

“The secret of balancing worship and work, devotion and service, love of God and love of people is maintaining our connection to Jesus Christ.  Our relationship with Him is the fulcrum, the anchor, the steadying point that makes balance possible in the first place.  And the deeper that relationship goes, the more stable the balance will be.” 

Ever want to know the secret to balancing it all? Well, there you have it!  It's all in maintaining our relationship with Christ.  Then everything else is put into perspective. 

So, as we go through this week and deeper into our relationship with Christ, put all you have into it.   Be completely honest and lay it all at His feet, because if you don't the rest of the weeks (the rest of the areas of our life)  aren't really going to matter.  If our relationship with Christ is not where it should be, then everything else is out of whack!  

My prayer is that we all will draw so close to Him, that there's not room for anything else in between.  That we, as branches, will grow deeper and deeper into the one true vine, Jesus Christ.