Are you plugged in?
WARNING: This article rehashes something we all know and should already be practicing!
My friends and family will attest I am a generally competent person. I am NOT a gifted DIY guy, but I do, out of necessity, apply my hand to home repair projects. Sometimes I even fix the problem. But today I find myself led to be truthful about a recent event that, while not showing me in a particularly positive light, illustrates (or re-illustrates) an issue that is so basic to the health of a disciple that Jesus said it is the difference between our bearing much fruit and doing nothing.
About a month ago Donna flipped the switch on our garbage disposal and nothing happened. She came to me, as she still does, to report a household repair issue (knowing that is one of the least effective strategies for repairing the item). I dutifully came into the kitchen and flipped the switch myself. Sure enough, nothing happened. I climbed under the sink with my Allen wrench and made sure the mechanism was not frozen. It wasn’t. I put my arm into the disposal to make sure it wasn’t jammed with some foreign object. It wasn’t. I flipped the switch again just to be sure, and it turned on!
I knew this probably wasn’t the end of the issue, but decided to take the win, disposed of what Donna was trying to get rid of, and told her it was working. A day or two later, she tried to flip the switch. Nothing happened. Again, she came to me.
I kept flipping and un-flipping the switch. At first, the disposal would occasionally turn on. But after a week or so, it just sat there. Fast forward three weeks and Donna is running out of patience (very gracefully!). I determined I would have no choice but to call a handyman, having reached the limit of my knowledge. But I wasn’t sure what to say. Was the disposal bad? Was the switch bad? Was there a wiring problem? All I knew was I flipped the switch and nothing happened. Then something came to me. The disposal had to have a cord to access power. So, I climbed under the sink, found the cord (like many, our under-sink cabinet is a bit crowded) and followed it to the wall. It was plugged in—almost. I pushed the plug in about a quarter inch, then asked Donna to flip the switch.
We now have a working disposal.
Aside from offering me a perfect opportunity to practice humility (actually I am disturbingly proud of myself for figuring this out!), there is an obvious application of this to discipleship. Jesus said, “I am the vine, you are the branches. If a man remains (that’s what “abide” means!) in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit. Apart from me, you can do nothing.” (John 15:5) Many of us have heard this illustration before, but we need to hear it again. If we aren’t plugged in to Jesus, we can do nothing! This doesn’t just mean we won’t have a great ministry or work miracles. It means NOTHING.
Why do so many disciples of Jesus feel so distant from Him? Obviously there can be many reasons, but I have found the vast majority of those saying they follow Him simply aren’t plugged in. They don’t pray, don’t worship, don’t study the Bib–in short they disconnect from Him and then wonder why they aren’t living the life they hoped for.
Apart from Him we can do nothing. That doesn’t mean we will be perfect if we are connected to Him. It doesn’t mean all our problems will automatically go away (Jesus said they won’t!). It simply means if we DON’T connect to Him first, nothing else will help.
Know Jesus and Be Faithful!
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