When We Fail to Produce, He Lifts Us Up

"Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branchthat beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit." (John 15: 2)

Before Jesus was delivered up on the Cross for our sins, He declared what He is for all of us:

"I am the vine. Ye are the branches."

He is our life, our source, our everything.

We have nothing without Him, for all things exist through Him and because of Him (Colossians 1)

Now, many readers will find the passage John 15: 2 very disturbing, even threatening and distressing.

"If I do not bear fruit, He is going to remove me!"

Yet throughout the Bible, especially under the New Covenant, we witness that our Lord Jesus will never leave us nor forsake us.

"My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand." (John 10: 29)

and

"Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." (Hebrews 13: 5)

We have received a spirit of adoption, in which we can call out to God: "Daddy!" (Romans 8:15)

This spirit grants us a seal of redemption, too, which cannot be broken:

"And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption." (Ephesians 4: 30)

It is eternal life which Jesus offers to us, not something temporal:

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3:16)

So, what is going in the above passage? Jesus did not say "take away", but the original word, airo, really means: "Lift up".

The first use of the word airo occurs in this passage:

"And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone." (Matthew 4:6)

In another passage:

"But that ye may know that the Son of man hath power on earth to forgive sins, (then saith he to the sick of the palsy,) Arise, take up thy bed, and go unto thine house." (Matthew 9: 6)

When we fail to produce, God our Father does not throw us away. He lifts us up, and leads us to rest more on Himself and allow His life to flow through us.