How do we think of God

 "I am the vine , you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing."  (John 15:5, NASB)

Sometimes we think of God as just a bigger version of ourselves.  We use him when things get bad, but most of the time we feel like we can handle life on our own.  We can, as we used to say when we were little, "Do it myself."  In this version of God he becomes a handy tool that we can call on (prayer) when we have a need, but he is not Lord.  This is a highly dangerous view of God.  And yet it is one that is all too common.  

It is interesting that the Bible does not give us this option.  God reminds us that he is higher than us.  He reminds us that our lives are but a mist and a vapor, but he is eternal.  He reminds us that we are weak and he is strong.  And yet even with all the reminders we cannot seem to escape trying to view him as something we need when we reach the end of our rope.  John 15 reminds us that Jesus is the vine and we are simply branches.  Think of this - the branch without a connection to the vine is a literal piece of garbage.  This is what verse 6 says.  If our goal is to bear fruit (as it states in verse 5) than we MUST be connected to Christ.  Without him, we cannot bear any fruit because he is our life!  

So today, remember that apart from Christ, you can do NOTHING!