Each January I ask the Lord for a new spiritual focus for the year. I pray the theme will permeate my life as the months go by. Here are prior themes… A Slave of Christ (2013), Better to Give Than to Get (2014), Keep in Step with the Spirit (2015), Listen and Love (2016), Join the Dance Procession (2017), Make Disciples (2018), Looking Up (2019), Blessed to Bless (2020), Practicing the Presence (2021), Talking with Jesus Like He’s Here Because...He Is (2022), Listening to Jesus Like He's Here Because...He is (2023), Redefining Success By Becoming Like....
Here is my 2025 theme and the story behind it…
I was in John 15 in my scripture rotation when I began my 2025 fast. I could not move on since there is so much there. I have diagrammed the first 17 verses in Greek (see photo). There are 13 words used at least twice in John 15:1-17. These show the key ideas in the text. Here they are...
Vine (v 1, 4, 5). Jesus is the true vine.
Branches (v. 2, 4, 5, 6). We are dependent entirely on him. There is no life for the branch apart from the vine. The branch has two primary functions. To abide or stay connected to the vine and…
Bear fruit (v. 2, 4, 5, 8, 16). This is one of the big themes of the passage with the phrase repeated eight times. Jesus wants us to bear fruit. It's the most natural thing for a branch to do as long as it stays connected. If we are not staying connected, then it's obvious because the branch does not bear fruit and the vine dresser takes that branch away. It is thrown into a fire and burns.
Cleanse/prune (v. 2, 3). The word for pruning is the same word as cleansing. So in verse 3 when Jesus says "you are already clean," it means that we have already been pruned because of the word he spoke to us and we received.
Word (v. 3 logos, v. 7 rhema). Though Jesus is the Word, he also has spoken his word. It is living and active and should have its effect in us.
Abide (v. 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10). This is tied with “bearing fruit” in its usage in this passage (8 times). This is one of the most important spiritual principles in all history. We are to actively rest and remain in him through consistent communion (talking with him like he’s here). This was Hudson Taylor's spiritual secret. Hudson observed you never see a branch quivering or struggling. It simply rests and remains and communes. This is the picture of a successful spiritual life. Here's an important point that is easy to miss, Jesus says twice that he must abide in us. So we allow him to live in and through us. Therefore we are abided in. Abide in him and he in us.
Ask (v. 7, 16). As we abide in him and his word in us, he invites us to be bold in our asking of him the things that we know will please him. When we do this, we have the confidence it will be done.
Love (v. 9, 10, 12, 13, 17). This is used nine times in five verses so this is the heartbeat of the text (and the heartbeat of God). We get to partake in the love that the Father and the Son have for one another. We are to abide in that love. As we do, we become vessels of love for others. This was Jesus’ core motivation. It must be ours as well.
Commands (v. 10, 12, 14, 17). Jesus kept the Father's commands. His command is that we love one another as he loved us. Our friendship with Jesus depends on us doing what he says.
Joy (v. 11). The result of all of the above is that the joy of Jesus would be in us and that it would be full. This is the secret to a happy life.
Friends (v. 13, 14, 15). The greatest love is demonstrated when someone lays down his life for his or her friends. Jesus was about to do this when he spoke these words. This is the stage in Jesus' training of his students where they graduate to friendship status. They are no longer servants. He calls us friends because has made known to us everything he heard from the Father.
Servants / Slaves (v. 15). This is the status we are elevated from as his followers.
Chosen (v. 16). We did not choose him, but he chose us. He appointed us that we should go and bare fruit and the fruit should remain. There is no greater calling than this.
So my theme for this year is “abide and be abided in…to bear the fruit of love.”
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