“Do it for the Vine!”

For those who don’t know, “The Vine” is an app that allows users with no other media software or skills  to make short videos on their phones.  The videos upload to social media and automatically play in a loop whenever anyone scrolls past. 

This app has become so popular that it’s birthed a new social slogan:  “Do it for the vine!”

When someone yells, “Do it for the vine!” you’re supposed to go crazy for the next few seconds.  They want you to do something video worthy. 

You were going to walk away from the argument because it wasn’t going anywhere good. 

No.  Fight instead.  Come on.

Do it for the vine.

You were going to bob your head to the music and keep on walking.

No.  Pull up your skirt and twerk instead.  Come on. 

Do it for the vine.

To “do it for the vine” you have to make a deliberate choice to ACT.  You can’t just sit there “for the vine.”  You can’t just stand around passively observing “for the vine.”  You have to get up and with all your energy DO SOMETHING “for the vine.”

Social media has made this call to choice and action a call to foolishness and self-degradation.

But like many cultural sins, the current trend is a corruption of something good.

You see, before we had an app for that, Jesus was telling people to “do it for the Vine.”

In John chapter 15, Jesus said,   “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser…I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.(John 15: 5)

Jesus is the true Vine and He wants us to be a part of Him-----and not a passive part.  The Lord commands the branches of His Vine  to DO something.

But not just any something.

If you are in Christ, if the Lord Jesus is in your heart, if He is Lord of your life, etc., etc. , then you should produce a certain type of fruit.

John the Baptist called it fruits worthy of repentance (Matthew 3: 8)

If you have truly repented of your sins and been engrafted into Jesus the True Vine, then you’ll talk to people as though you have left your sins behind not like you’re looking forward to sinning more.  (Colossians 4: 6)

If you’ve really received Jesus as your Lord and Savior then you’ll do your job (whatever that is) as though the integrity of your work was an expression of worship. (Ephesians 6: 6, 7)

If you are part of the Jesus Vine for real, then you will live in such a way that even when surrounded by the darkness of a sinful world, your good works shine as such a light before people that those who see you give glory to God.(Matthew 5: 16)

Speak, and act, and work, and live as though every choice were going to be played back in a loop for Jesus to watch.

Cause it kinda is.

But I say to you that for every idle word men may speak, they will give account of it in the day of judgment.  (Matthew 12: 34)

Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.  (Matthew 7: 19)  

What we SAY about ourselves is just the caption we place under the scene.  The truth of where we stem from is recorded in our actions every day, every moment.

“You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles?” Jesus said. (Matthew 7: 16)

At any given moment, someone may entice you to do something.  To show out.  To let go and show off the real you.

Do it for the vine!

But before you decide what to do, ask yourself:   Which vine?

Which vine are you part of?    Your fruit will tell.

Which vine defines you?  Your choice will answer.

Every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. …Therefore by their fruits you will know them. (Matthew 7: 17-20)  

Jesus told His disciples, You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in Me, and I in you. (John 15: 3, 4)

He promised that If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples. (John 15: 7, 8)

Jesus said that the good that is Him is already in you.  Just hold to His Word. Just rest in His presence.

Jesus said that if you abide in/ find your center in Him & His Word that you can bear good fruit.  Any good thing you want to accomplish you can do.

If you abide in Christ and in His Word, if you lose yourself and find yourself in Jesus, then you’ll be able to hear it---- the sound of Jesus chanting, “Come on, my child.  Show them what you got!  Get up.  Do your thing.  Bear My fruit.”

Do it for The Vine!

(Acknowledgement:  This blog post was my wife's idea.  God gave her the title and the concept.  She told me that I had to write it.  The Holy Spirit in us both did the rest.)

---Anderson T. Graves II   is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Hall Memorial CME Church in Montgomery, Alabama, executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization (SAYNO) and director of rural leadership development for the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).

Email atgravestwo2@aol.com

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