THINK TOGETHER
Have you ever seen rotten fruit? Why does fruit go rotten? (talk about how it has to stay connected to the vine or tree to stay alive)
READ TOGETHER
When I was a kid we had a grape vine growing in our back yard along an old fence. I don't know what kind of grapes they were, but they were delicious. The truth is my knowledge of grapes is quite limited. But I do know this - the grapes that were on the vine were alive and the grapes that fell off of the vine were dead.
Jesus says that we are the same way. In order to have eternal life we have to be attached to him. Listen to how Jesus describes himself and his disciples as a grape vine and its branches here in John's gospel:
John 15:4-5. 4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
Jesus tells us that "apart from him we can do nothing." Do you think that Jesus means that we can't run and play, and do our homework, or clean our room, or play video games without him?
Well maybe. The Bible says that Jesus holds the whole universe together so that includes you and everything you do too.
But what Jesus most likely means when he says "apart from me you can do nothing" is that we can't really do anything that is truly loving and not selfish without first knowing that we are loved and forgiven by him. When Jesus is your savior that's when you know that he loves you no matter what. And you know that you are forgiven no matter what. And when you know that you are always loved and forgiven by God, then you can do anything that Jesus asks you to do – like love and forgive others, and be kind, and share, and obey the adults who love you and care about you. All of this is possible when Jesus is with you - and he always is!
Because of Jesus we can always know that we are loved.
With Jesus we can do anything he asks us to do.
DO SOMETHING TOGETHER
Look at some form of rotten fruit or vegetables together. Talk about how living fruit has to stay connected to the vine or tree to stay alive.
PRAY TOGETHER
Jesus,
Apart from you I can do nothing, but with you I can do whatever you ask me to do.
Amen.
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