Last week was a rough week for the FCC family, and it was harder for some than it was for others.  It’s always difficult when you’re trying to manufacture enough strength to keep your feet on the ground; your head above the clouds; your shoulder to the wheel; your nose to the grindstone; your ear to the ground; your eye on the ball; and, finger on the pulse.

Take a moment to look, again, at each of the mantras above.  What is the common theme?  Isn’t it spiritual desertion through physical exertion?   If you’re not careful, you’ll cliché yourself to death with this sort of bumper sticker philosophy.

The key to managing life is not the saccharine sentimentalism that’s posted on Facebook.  Meaningless and sappy slogans are a poor substitute for the vitality of the vine that is promised by Jesus in John 15.  Here are the key points to what Jesus said concerning this relationship:

• Productivity: The branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me (15:4)
• Prayer: If you abide in me, and my words abide in you . . . (15:7)
• Proof: By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples (15:8)
• Practical Obedience: If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love (15:10).

The key to escaping a tireless existence is to entirely focus on the principles above.  Develop the habit of abiding in Christ by interceding in prayer, ingesting His word, and intentionally obeying His commands.

When you abide in Him, you’re nourished by the vitality of the Vine, and you can  “Be imitators of God as dear children.  And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma (Ephesians 5:1-2).”