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JESUS IS THE VINE

Who am I? Why am I here? Is there something more to life than just existence?

Have you ever heard your family or friends ask these types of questions? Maybe you have asked them yourself? There is a good chance that
you have questioned the reason for life. I can remember when I was in High School, just about everyday somebody was talking about leaving
their job or family to go find themselves, thinking they can discover who they really are on their own. I can only imagine the number of families
that were destroyed during these futile quests.

Maybe you are asking these questions now? Would you like to know where to find the answers without ripping your family apart at the
seams? All these answers can be found in the Bible, the Living Word of God. What does our existence all boil down to? We are all the sinful
seed of Adam, children of God the Father. He created us for one purpose, to serve Him. Everyone on this planet was created to do His work
for His glory and nothing else. We are created in His image and are called to become like His Son, Jesus. We as Christians are the body of
Christ who is the head. We are to grow the body and make it strong by bringing the Word of God to the lost. We as Christians must come
together and work to build the body.

Look around you, what do you see? Male, female, short people, tall people, people of different nationalities, of different colors, and different
likes and dislikes. We all tend to place labels on people, to group ourselves in different categories. Even as Christians we segregate ourselves
into denominations. We call ourselves Methodists, Catholics, Baptists, and the list can extend to many pages, not to mention other religions,
Jewish, Muslim, etc. These differences have caused spiritual uprisings, racial uprisings, and have taken our attention away from our true
purpose. We are all servants of God and are called to become the body of Christ.

"I am the vine; you are the branches." John 15:5

Christ is the Vine and we are the branches. We are grafted into the Vine, as we become believers. How do you think our Heavenly Father
views us? He only knows us as either righteous or unrighteous. We are all still His children, His creations. How do we become righteous? By
accepting Jesus' sacrifice and the gift of His grace. If you deny that Jesus is the Son of God, born of a virgin, resurrected from the dead, then
you are unrighteous. But be careful, just because we accept the truth and are righteous in God's eyes that does not make us perfect. We are
still sinners and fall short of grace.

"As it is written: "There is no one righteous, not even one:" Romans 3:10

All are unworthy, but Jesus' sacrifice makes us clean and worthy in God's eyes.

"But now a righteousness from God, apart from the law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This
righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of
the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus." Romans 3:21-24

We as the righteous children of God make up the body of Christ. Eventhough God has given each one a different gift or gifts to perform His
work, we are not separated within the body. The arm does not represent any particular denomination or the leg does not represent any
particular nationality. We are all the same. We all need to work together for His glory.

One of the things I wrestle with concerns God's chosen people. Doesn't that represent a division, Jews and Gentiles? They do not believe in
Jesus as the Son of God. I have heard different explanations as to how they are saved after all Jesus is the only way to paradise.

"Jesus answered, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." John 14:6

I have heard that the Jews are saved because they believe in a coming Messiah. And in the Book of Revelations God's specifically refers to the
Jewish people being blind until the appointed time. We may never know, but on the other hand that is not for us to judge. God will judge each
on the day of judgement, we need to concentrate not on judgement but on His work, what He has called us to do. But I will have you ponder
something. Consider in nature when a branch is grafted into a vine or tree. That branch becomes part of what it is being grafted into, taking on
the characteristics of the host. So now if Christ is truly the vine and we as believers have been grafted into the vine then it stands to reason
that we will take on the characteristics of the vine. So are we not truly spiritually Jewish and in essence God's chosen people, His elect?

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in
Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be
adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will - to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely
given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's
grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good
pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment - to bring all things in heaven
and on earth together under one head, even Christ. In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who
works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to hope in Christ, might be for the
praise of his glory. And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed,
you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those
who are God's possession - to the praise of his glory."

Ephesians 1:3-14