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I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.\xa0 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.\xa0 \u2026 I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. (John 15:1,2,5)

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A number of big-name Christian leaders have recently fallen into scandal or abused their position of leadership by abusing others.\xa0 We were reminded of that in our devotion yesterday: that when leaders become isolated enough by their positions to begin to believe that they, and not Christ, are at the centre of the church\u2019s story, trouble ensues.\xa0

But, it\u2019s not just leaders that fall into this trap.\xa0 It is incredibly easy for any of us to begin to believe that we, and not Christ, are at the centre.\xa0 In fact, we follow that script pretty faithfully throughout the week. \xa0We do our work.\xa0 We seek to entertain ourselves.\xa0 We seek to earn enough to pay our bills. \xa0We look out for our family.\xa0 We do our homework.\xa0 We keep up our friendships.\xa0 We wonder about who we are and what we should be doing with our lives.\xa0 It all gets pretty self-centered after a while.

Unless.\xa0

Unless we intentionally take time to focus on God, rather than ourselves.\xa0 I\u2019ve been increasingly convinced that Sabbath is just a critical Christian practice and God\u2019s gift and invitation to us to put all our relationships back in the right order.\xa0

The heart of that reality is displayed here in Jesus\u2019 words about the vine and the branches.\xa0 He says rather bluntly that apart from him, we can do nothing.\xa0 It is only through connection with Christ that the life-giving sap of his love flows into and through us out to the world around.\xa0 So: Christ must remain at the centre: he\u2019s the vine that supports us, not the other way around.

But the curious thing that we find in the first verse is that fruitfulness also requires pruning.\xa0 I believe God\u2019s gift, invitation, indeed command to take a Sabbath is part of his work of pruning the fruitful branches.\xa0 Sabbath forces us to say no.\xa0 No to our work, no to appointments on our calendars, no to the needs and desires that pull us into a flurry of us-at-the-centre activity.\xa0

Instead: Sabbath puts God at the centre, forcing us to trust that he\u2019ll keep the world, our work, and our lives spinning even if we take a break for a day.\xa0 In that space, we can also listen to him, worship him, and take time to love and be loved by others in our lives too: because for a day, we don\u2019t need them to be useful or need to be useful for them.\xa0 Our relationships are put back in the right order.\xa0

What is God seeking to prune out of your life?\xa0 What do you need to say no to in order to take a true Sabbath this week?

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