Yesterday was such a good day. A celebration of motherhood is always enjoyable. But the day had possible threat looming over it.

On her way to work, my daughter Candace called and said her engine light came on and that her car wasn’t running well. So we knew when she returned home, we’d have to see what the issue was.

So at 8:30 last night, my husband pulled out his handy gadget that told him the fourth cylinder had misfired. And after looking at the engine, he knew why.

Somehow the spark plug cable had been cut, possibly by the fan.

I know there are times in our lives when we aren’t running on all cylinders. Illness may be hindering our function. Young children may be zapping energy from us. A busy schedule may be keeping us from releasing our full potential.

But it can be downright dangerous if we allow this to happen in our spiritual lives. Perhaps we’ve “taken a break” from church attendance or group Bible study. Perhaps there’s no time to add personal devotions to our lives. Or perhaps we’ve grown lazy in our spiritual development.

Whatever our “good” reasoning is, it isn’t.

There is a reason Jesus gave us the command in John 15 to remain in Him. Jesus is our life source. Without Him, there is no life. It’s not just one cylinder misfiring, it is your entire life misfiring.

And according to Jesus, apart from Him, we can do nothing (John 15:5). That may seem a little dramatic to some, but I’ve lived on both sides of this command and it is so true.

There is nothing outside of Christ.

However, Jesus doesn’t want us to just remain in Him. There is something we are to be doing in this state. We find this in the same verse mentioned above (John 15:5 – NIV).

“I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”

We are to bear much fruit. And you’ve heard of this fruit before from Galatians 5:22-23 (NIV)

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”

This is the fruit we are to bear.

Jesus also mentions in this section what happens to the branch that doesn’t bear fruit.

“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)

Looks like we’ve come full circle doesn’t it? We aren’t the only ones who cut ourselves off from God. If we are non-fruit producing followers of Christ, God will do the cutting for us.

Remember God’s words about being lukewarm? To the Church at Laodicea He said, “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.” (Revelation 3:15-16 – NIV)

We cannot be happy with mediocrity. We must be working diligently to grow spiritually and by remaining in Jesus and with the help of the Holy Spirit, we are able to produce an abundance of fruit.

Mason had a spark plug wire. He replaced it in 5 minutes and Candace’s car now runs smoothly again.

We have the source and power to be great followers of Christ. Reach out and grab it. Repair that broken line between you and God. Then, wait to see what God produces in your life and what wonderful things He has in store for you.

Grace and peace be yours in abundance,

Donna