John 15:4-5, 9-14

• Read John 15:4-5, 9-14 

• Draw a picture of what Jesus is teaching here. What names can you write on the branches – who is connected to Jesus?

• Why is it important to remain in Jesus? 

• What is the model of love that Jesus has provided for us? 

People long for connection. We want to feel loved. We want to be valued. To share moments in our life, both good and bad. These things are built into our very core.  

Living through the COVID-crisis for the past few months has made connecting tougher than normal. It’s felt quite isolating not being able to gather with friends and extended family, not being able to go to church or youth group, not chatting and laughing with our friends at school as we would normally get to do five days a week! Our connections with people have been reduced to messages, Zoom chats, or just tagging each other in pictures/videos. Some of us might have had next to no contact outside our immediate family. 

I’m an extrovert and a real people-person, I adore hugs when I see friends and family, and I really struggled having my connections with people reduced to seeing someone on a screen. Isn’t there just something so special about seeing someone face to face, giving them a hug, sharing a packet of chips, or being able to offer them our jumper when they’re cold?! Elbow taps… not quite the same.

However, in the midst of feeling disconnected, I was reminded how wonderful it was that I still had a whole community of people to connect with in my church family. It might not have been in the same ways I would have liked, or with exactly the people I would have chosen for myself, but unlike some of my non-Christian friends, I was still seeing people on Sundays in our online zoom-church gatherings, still chatting and reading the Bible via video with my bible study group and still getting regular messages from my close Christian girl friends. And we are actually connected at the deepest level... because we’re all connected to Jesus! 

The connections that we find in Christian community are unique because they go beyond shared interests or classes or even blood relation! When we become a Christian we become part of God’s family, we become branches connected to ‘the vine’. God chooses to take people who once tried to live apart from Him and connect them in with Jesus, the source of all life itself! And as we become connected to Jesus, we also become connected to everyone else who is a part of the vine. It’s pretty amazing that we are connected to Jesus Himself and also to all of God’s family.  

Don’t hear me wrong, I’m not saying that Christian connections are without trouble. We’re still sinful humans who can hurt others or be hurt by them. But when we choose to follow Jesus' example of being connected to others, we choose to sacrifice and to love others like He has loved us. He sacrificed His life so that we might be connected to Him. He loved us when we were absolutely unlovable.

Maybe you’re not a Christian and this type of connection sounds foreign and unachievable to you? Let me say, it’s not! When you become a Christian, you become connected with Jesus and that connection cannot be broken or diminished. Even when you are socially isolated, you’re permanently and wonderfully connected to him. And when we are connected to God, we are automatically connected in the community of fellow believers. We’re part of a plant that’s huge, and growing, and has its roots in Jesus’ sacrificial love.

REFLECT

• If you’re not a Christian, are you interested in connecting with God and with other Christians? (Chat to a Christian friend or contact the EQUIP team if you’d like help getting started: www.equip.org.au/contact)  

• If you are a Christian, how can you keep enjoying and growing your connection to Jesus, the vine? How can you connect more with your fellow ‘branches’?

  • Here are some ideas… This week, chat with someone, call, message or write a letter and encourage them to stay connected to Jesus and let them know why you’re thankful for being connected to them! 

• Why is what the Bible says about feeling connected good news for your friends who don’t yet know Jesus?

PRAY

Dear Heavenly Father, thank You that in You we find ultimate connection, meaning and hope! Thank You that I can be connected with other Christians too. Please help me to value my brothers and sisters in Christ. Help me to love them like Christ did, sacrificing for them and caring for them deeply. Please help me to share the hope I have with my non-Christian friends and family so that they too can experience true connection in You. Amen

We hope you enjoyed EQUIP at Home this year. Thanks so much for joining us as we moved online! We’ve really loved considering this big topic of Eternity with you over these past two weeks.

Do you know a friend who would enjoy this devotional or the Equip At Home episodes? Why not tell them about it! Teens rego is still open (and free!) until July 27.

We’re praying that God would continue to help you stand firm in the gospel and give yourself fully to the work that lasts.

Love,

Mathea & Lucy.

“Therefore, our dear sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” (1 Corinthians 15:58)

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