"Treadmill Journey"

By: Zach Wood

John 15:5

I am the vine; you are the branches.  If a man remains in me and I in him,

he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

 

 

For the past month, my wife and I have enjoyed our new fitness membership that is right across the street.  Yeah, I know, such a long walk!  Of course, the difference between walking at a fitness club and walking on a street is that you do not really go anywhere on a treadmill.  For the past couple of weeks, every time I am on the treadmill, I just chuckle because I am not going anywhere.  I was walking beside some girls the other morning and I overheard them talking about how far they think they have walked as if they were walking from town to town.  Then, I got to thinking more about how we get into a treadmill journey in life. 

 

When we come to Christ, God invites us on a wonderful journey with Him.  It is a wonderful adventure unlike anything else we ever do!  He is the vine and we are the branches.  If we do not remain living a life like Him, then we choose our own way of life and stray from our Father.  The farther we get from Him, little good can we do.  We bear fruit when we walk with Him.  When we go our own way, we are just spinning our own wheels.  Just like the treadmill, no matter how fast you can go and how much energy you burn, if we are not walking with Christ, but on our own path, we are just wasting energy.  Spiritually, we are literally going nowhere.  There are so many people who are walking without Christ and doing their own thing in life and they are wearing themselves out by walking and running with the world.  If we can be examples to others of how to walk with Christ, then we can invite others to stop their treadmill journey and get on the path of life. 

 

I find it so interesting how verse 5 ends, "apart from me you can do nothing".  When will we learn and stop doing our own treadmill journey and wake up to realize that we cannot do life on our own?  After 30 years of life, I am still trying to figure out why I try so much of life on my own.  If we want true life, we need to stay on the path with Christ. 

 

I want to bear much fruit for the Kingdom.  How about you?