Christ has something exciting in store for us every single day of our lives. This could be new experiences, lessons, or people we meet and it is analogous to flowing water that fills the cup— which is us. This is a cycle; the water flows in our cup, then we empty it and are filled again. If we fail to allow this cycle into our lives, we can become stagnated, stuck in a bottomless cup that can never be filled.

I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. - John 15:1-2 NIV

In my experience as a young person in the church, I’ve noticed that most Christians are trapped in the church. Every Sunday we go to church, listen to the message of the pastor, then that’s it; that’s the routine of our lives. It’s relatively easy to be a Christian in the church, to sing and dance during praise and worship. It’s much more difficult to muster courage to finally go out and share the gospel and our testimony outside of the walls of the church. Most of us are guilty of hoarding the water that has filled our cup on Sunday, rather than sharing our magnificent experiences with Christ to others.

Jesus is the vine, God the Father is the gardener and we are the branches. Since we are sustained and connected to Jesus, every branch is expected to produce fruits. However when it fails to do so, the gardener will cut it down. It will then join other branches that have dried up and be burned. But for those who produced fruit, He trims it cleanly for it to produce more fruit (John 15:1-17, NIV)

As branches of Christ, we are meant to produce fruit; we are not destined to become “just members,” forever and keeping what we know about the Gospel to ourselves or other people who already know Christ. We are intended for something greater. After being molded in the church, learning about Christ and forming a deeper relationship with Him, it should be our goal to share it with others and be filled all over again.

God has prepared every Sunday as a gift to sustain us for the rest of the week. Let us not let evil hinder our mission of reaching out to our brothers and sisters who still do not know about the wonderful gift that Jesus offers them. Let us become the stewards that we were meant to be. Empty your cup and allow Christ to refill you. Go out and be fruitful.

Discussion questions: Have you shared your wonderful experience with Christ to your family? Friends? Or neighbors?

Further reading: John 15:1-17; Deuteronomy 5:1-22

See more devotions from Jeremiah and our other Young Adult writers, or find our how you can become a writer yourself, at our Young Adult devotions page.