The Importance of a Good Connection
The story is told of a native from a remote mountain village in the jungle, who had the opportunity to visit a large modern city for the first time. He was amazed at all the bright lights and technology. He stayed and worked in the city for a number of months, saving up as much money as he could so he could bring back some of the modern comforts to his primitive village.
On his last day in the city, he made a major purchase, one that he thought would change his life forever and make him the most popular man in his village. He bought a smart phone.
The day he arrived home, the man called everyone to the middle of the village to show them his impressive new toy. But when he tried to demonstrate for them how it made calls and gave him access to weather reports, games and information – it wouldn’t work. He couldn’t make calls. He couldn’t check the weather. He couldn’t connect to the internet.
You see, there were no cell towers in the middle of the jungle. He had no bars – no connection. He spent hours trying to make it work until the battery finally wore out. Then he realized his other problem. He had nowhere to plug it in. They didn’t have electricity.
A smartphone without a good connection isn’t very smart.
Jesus once said, “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” (John 15:5).
You don’t have to own a vineyard to understand Jesus’ point. The illustration could work with just about any plant or tree. Jesus is the vine; he is the tree trunk. We are the branches. Branches depend on the vine – the trunk – for life. If a branch is broken off, it dries up and is useless. But connected to the vine, connected to the trunk, it receives life-giving sap and is able to produce fruit.
A while back, I read a sermon by another pastor which asked the question: “Are we connected to Christ?” In the sermon he listed a number of reasons why his members might not be connected to Christ.
Actually, though, the question we should ask ourselves as Christians isn’t: “Are we connected to Christ?” If you believe in Jesus as your Savior, you are connected to him. You are forgiven. You are going to heaven.
The question we need to ask ourselves as Christians is: “How is our connection?” We all need to periodically pull out our spiritual iPhones and check how many bars we have.
When our connection to Jesus becomes weak, we are like our smart phones when we are driving out in the country and only have one bar. We don’t function well with a poor connection. We struggle. We stress. We fall and fail. When our connection to Jesus becomes weak, we are in danger of losing that connection completely.
So how do we keep our connection to Jesus strong? Stay connected to his Word. Stay connected to Holy Communion. Stay connected to church.
That’s how the Holy Spirit keeps us connected to Jesus, the vine. That’s how his life-giving sap flows into us. That’s how we can keep our connection strong.
