Plugged In
By Grant Gaines
Let me just start off this blog with this disclaimer: “I love Apple products.” I have an iPhone, iPod, and an iPad so I think it’s safe to say that I’m rather bought into the Apple product line. The one thing, however, that I do hate about Apple products is that with every upgrade of an existing product, they always change the size and specifications.
Sure, the new product’s revamped size is fun and catches your eye for a moment but the excitement quickly wears off when you realize that all of the accessories you purchased for your old product no longer fit on your new Apple product. For example, if I were to get a new iPhone this year, the protective case and screen protector that have been faithfully protecting my old iPhone for several years now would all of the sudden be good for nothing other than a $0.25 item at the next garage sale.
And as annoying as it may be to constantly purchase new accessories for your new Apple product, nothing is worse than having to deal with the new chargers they always come out with. Not only does this require you to buy new chargers for your new products but now you also have to walk around with multiple chargers for your multiple generations of Apple products that you may have. You can’t use an old charger on a new product because the hardware has changed to the point where the old charger will no longer fit.
Try as hard or for as long as you want, but if you have the wrong charger plugged into your iPhone, your phone will be as dead as a doorknob. You have to use the correct charger if you want your product to truly get energy.
Jesus echoed a similar truth in John 15:1 (NIV, bold mine) when He proclaimed, “I am the true Vine…” and then went on to explain that we, like branches, must stay plugged into the “true” Vine in order to bear any spiritual fruit (Galatians 5:22-23).
By Jesus claiming to be the “true” Vine, He is indicating that there are also some false vines out there that people are trying to get life, strength, or satisfaction from other than Himself. Some of these false vines include: people, our jobs, entertainment, relationships, kids, sports, money, shopping, exercising, success, love, etc.
And just as my phone would remain dead if I tried to plug an old phone charger into my new generation of phone, we too remain spiritually dead as long as we try to plug ourselves into any vine other than Jesus.
Do you ever wonder how ‘Daniel-in-the-lions’-den’ Daniel became such an incredible man of God? Scripture records that he was such a man of integrity, in fact, that when the corrupt politicians of King Darius’ court became jealous of Daniel and wanted to get rid of him, they had to resort to lies and manipulation because when, “…the administrators and [politicians] tried to find grounds for charges against Daniel in his conduct in government affairs…they were unable to do so. They could find no corruption in him, because he was trustworthy and neither corrupt nor negligent” (Daniel 6:4, NIV).
Do you want to know the craziest part of this story? By the time the events of Daniel 6 came to pass, Daniel had already served in the government for 70 years! Think about that for one moment, 70 years of doing anything without even the smallest season of unfaithfulness would be incredibly impressive. But what makes Daniel’s story so unfathomable is that he lived an unblemished lifestyle for 70 years in a governmental leadership role! Talk about a good politician!
But Daniel didn’t obtain this perfect record on his own. Instead, we see the source of his incredible moral strength and longevity in Daniel 6:10 (NIV, bold mine) when we read that Daniel, “…went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened towards Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving thanks to his God, just as he always had.”
There it is! Daniel remained plugged into the true Vine three times a day, day after day after day.
If you want to get technical about things, this means that Daniel got “plugged in” to God three times a day, for 365 days a year, for 70 years, which means that by the time we read of his incredible integrity and conviction in the face of a hungry lions’ den in Daniel 6, he had already been plugged into the Vine a whopping 76,650 times! No wonder he was so strong-he found his strength in God alone!
Could the same be said about you? Do you look up to God-the true Vine-to get your strength and satisfaction or are you trying to get life from a false vine?
What vine are you plugged into?
“Look to the LORD and His strength. Seek His face always.”
-1 Chronicles 16:11 (NIV)
Comments? Questions? Suggestions?
©Grant Gaines 2013
