10/04/2026
Are you a branch on the vine of Jesus Christ? Do you know what that means to you? Well, when we are grafted into the vine of Jesus, we become righteous as He is righteous, and free of sin as He is free of sin. Grafting doesn’t transform the branch’s nature, but it is from that moment on that the branch is supported and fed by the new vine to which it is attached. Are you fed and supported by Jesus? Is your fruit made more perfect and fuller by its new source of nourishment?
“You know that he appeared in order to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him.”
1 John 3:5-6 ESV
It is so easy to get caught up in the routine of sinning, and then asking for forgiveness, then sinning again and again. So often we lean on Jesus as if He were a crutch whittled from His vine rather than allowing Him to support us without the need for a crutch at all, but by His strength as the vine itself, and being one with Him. Is considering this causing you to feel anxious? Are you worried that you won’t be able to shake off your old sinful nature? Listen to what Pastor Andrew Murray says as he writes on this very subject...
“Jesus saves such a believer from his sin - not by the removal of his sinful nature, but by keeping him from yielding to it.” - Andrew Murray
When I am facing a particularly hard job, I break it down into small tasks, and I go about completing one of them at a time... I don’t address the entire overwhelming job, but work at that one task that is before me until it is completed... then I move on to the next. There is a saying that I often use, and it goes like this...
“How do you eat an elephant? Well, you eat him one bite at a time!”
Sinning is an elephant and when we look at it in its entirety it appears too large to address, but when we look at that one sin before us at this very moment, then Jesus can help us defeat it.
“Do not, however, let your attention be diverted by the question as to whether it were possible to be kept for your whole life without sinning. Faith only has to deal with the present moment.” - Andrew Murray
Our joining with Jesus makes us strong, and able to face down sin; not just with tears, contrition, and forgiveness as a tool, but with resistance to the sin itself. Jesus leads us to a holy life. When we look at His life, we see that He was without sin. Jesus didn’t model a life of sinning and gaining forgiveness, He showed us how to “go and sin no more.”
“If the dough offered as first fruits is holy, so is the whole lump, and if the root is holy, so are the branches.”
Romans 11:16 ESV
Another strategy that I use to keep me from falling into despair when I face something that is bigger than myself is to look beyond it. I don’t concentrate on where I am, but where I will be. I do this by employing two tricks, first I say to myself “by this time tomorrow this will be over, and I can do anything for a day!” And the second trick is to keep my eye on the road ahead of me... not right in front of my feet, but a ways down the road.
When I was a boy and just learning to drive my father taught me not to look right in front of where I was, but at where I wanted the car to go. He was right, and the car would go straight ahead if I looked there, and either to the left or right if I diverted my gaze in that direction. Then, when I graduated to driving on the interstate he told me not to look so much at the car in front of me, but to look several cars ahead; this way I could react in time if I saw brake lights, or something happening... and it worked. We should use this strategy with sin as well. Don’t look at the road of faith right at your feet and expect to continue on without sinning, look instead a bit down the road and follow your eyes. And, if you find yourself in a situation where sin abounds and trouble might occur quickly, look further ahead so that you can see sin before you run headlong into it... give yourself time to react... time to ask Jesus what He would do.
The goal is to live life without sinning, but the task is to not sin right now. The goal is to overcome the elephant of sinfulness, but the task in front of us is to eat that one spoonful of it that we are holding in our hand. Don’t become overwhelmed by the enormity of the expectation God has for you, just focus on Jesus and take that next bite out of the elephant, and drive a little further down the road without an accident. Do you think you can do that? If so then there is a day coming when you will be standing on a mountaintop looking back on the narrow twisting road in the valley below, that somehow you have travelled, and you will praise God for the journey that has brought you to Him.
““Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.”
Matthew 7:13-14 ESV
Prayer:
Father, thank you for this wonderful journey of faith you have set me on, and thank you for your Son Jesus who walks every step of the way with me. Help me Father to travel without incident, and to avoid the trouble that sin represents along the way. I thank you for helping me to be righteous as I travel Lord, but I also thank you for your forgiveness when I stumble. In Christ I am encouraged not to sin, and shown how to overcome it, but should I misstep by yielding to my old imperfect nature, I thank you for His cleansing blood that allows me to step back onto the road and to continue my journey of faith by your forgiveness, mercy, and grace. Come to me Father when I am getting discouraged and give me a word, or a pat on the back that lets me know that all is well, and that I can do this. Keep me focused on the task at hand, but every so often show me the glow of the distant city so that I will be heartened to continue on. You are the grand city at my journey’s end, and the light at the end of this tunnel through sin. Praised be your name Holy Father, for praising you strengthens my resolve, and lightens my burden. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you my God, and Holy is your Son Jesus, my companion and counselor. I see the road signs ahead that warn me of sin, and worship you as I heed their warning. Great are you Father, and blessed is your Son who leads me home. Make me Righteous, make me Holy, and help me as I travel on unabated by my nature of sin, and discouragement.
“for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.”
Romans 3:23-25 ESV
Amen! Amen! Amen!
Rich Forbes