This past week, I purchased a printer for my office. Setting up this new, wireless, Wi-Fi, printer was another adventure. I spent all day Tuesday trying to get it set up. Every try made it to the same point where I was told that the printer could not be connected to the network. The printer would install but be listed as “offline.”
Richard Mayfield was kind enough to help me on Wednesday. He figured out that the printer was too far from the router to maintain the Wi-Fi signal. So I found a cable, hooked it up and I now have a working printer in my office.
In John 15:1,2, Jesus says, “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit.” Jesus will also tell His disciples that to bear fruit, they must remain in (connected to) the vine (verses 4,5).
The printer problem made me think about these verses. Apparently, the printer was too far away from the “vine” to “bear fruit” (print from my computer). However, when I connected the printer to the computer via a cable, it did “produce fruit.”
We live in a wireless world. Some might even say that wires slow us down and that to be truly effective, our lives must be wireless: nothing holding us back. Perhaps we have been trying to “produce spiritual fruit” wirelessly.
However, to be “spiritually wireless” would mean separating ourselves from the Vine. Jesus tells us what will happen should we choose to not remain in the Vine: “If anyone does not abide in Me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned” (John 15:6).
Going wireless from a physical standpoint is wonderful. I wish my printer would work wirelessly: there would be one less cord to trip over in my office. To have devices designed to work wirelessly work like they are intended is a marvelous convenience and help with a busy life.
Spiritually, though, we were not designed to be wireless. We must remain attached to the Vine if we are to bear fruit that is pleasing to the Vine and the Vinedresser. If we do not bear fruit that is pleasing to the Vine and the Vinedresser, we may just find ourselves cut off, thrown into a scrap heap, and waiting to be burned.