John 15:5 Jesus says, “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.” I’m sure that when many of you just read this verse, you moaned, “I have heard this so many times!” Please keep on reading! We live on an acreage with hundreds of trees around our house. Many branches have fallen over the years, but some are still partially attached to the tree. They are barely hanging on and even though they’re just dangling, some of the leaves are still green. These branches are easily swayed in all directions when the wind blows. Many people who stop on the roadside say they are Christians, but their lives are swayed this way and that as they struggle through life and wonder where God is. They’re angry and distressed and lost. When we ask them where Jesus is in their hearts, it turns out they have only a nominal investment in God. Jesus doesn’t want you to miss out by just barely hanging onto Him.

The Passion Translation explains further, “I am a true sprouting vine, and the farmer who tends the vine is my Father. He cares for the branches connected to me by lifting and propping up the fruitless branches and pruning every fruitful branch to yield a greater harvest…For as a branch severed from the vine will not bear fruit, so your life will be fruitless unless you live your life intimately joined to mine…As you live in union with me as your source, fruitfulness will stream from within you—but when you live separated from me you are powerless.”

It’s time to stop and ask, “Lord, what part of my life is disconnected from You? Where has my life withered without You?” Why is this so important to the Lord? Consider what Jesus says in John 15:9, “I love each of you with the same love that the Father loves me.” That amazing statement got my attention! The same love with which the Father loves Jesus is the same love with which Jesus loves you and me! He wants us directly connected to love that is not short of anything! Does the love of the Father fall short with Jesus? No! Does the love of the Father grow weak over time? No! Does the love of the Father ever fail Jesus? No! The same for you! The Lord will never disconnect or neglect any portion of His love for you! Ever! You can’t sin your way or disappoint your way out of His love! Only one thing can separate you from the love of God–by dying without Him. John 3:16-18 Message, “This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life…Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person’s failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him.”

Don’t miss out on His love. Experience it personally, going beyond a knowledge of doctrine to an intimate experience of His love. How? Jesus tells us in John 15:10, “I continually live nourished and empowered by [My Father’s] love. My purpose for telling you these things is so that the joy that I experience will fill your hearts with overflowing gladness!”

To sum it all up: God so loved…that He doesn’t want you to miss out on it!

-by Emil Liko 4/17/26