5 “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing.

…

9 “I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love.”

-John 15:5, 9, NLT

We were made to live from a place of unconditional love. That is how God designed us from the very beginning of time.

I can prove this to you:

When a baby is born, ought that baby be loved and cared for? Of course.

Is something wrong when the child isn’t? Absolutely.

Instinctively, we understand that children come into the world and ought to be met with unmerited love and care–aka grace. The child did nothing to earn this love and care; it is a free gift. That is how God designed our very existence.

I believe we spend our lives as Christians attempting to reconnect with this most basic of truths. In other words, we seek to cultivate our connection to the “true vine.” Apart from God’s unconditional love, we truly can do nothing.

To the degree I am cut off from God and His unconditional love towards me is the degree to which I am spiritually unwell.

Discipleship is a journey towards grasping this most fundamental spiritual truth.

In a world that is geared to conditional love and performance, God’s unconditional and unmerited gift of love towards us seems hard to believe. Yet it is true, and believing it to the core of our beings is the secret to bearing “much fruit.”

This is why–I believe–the Apostle Paul gives us the following prayer in Ephesians 3:17b-18, NIV:

And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ…

We need help to grasp how BIG God’s love is for each one of us. It is beyond our natural capacities.

The Creator of the Universe decided He wanted YOU as His friend (see John 15:15-16). He loves YOU so much that He spilled His own blood for you (John 3:16). YOU are precious and chosen from the foundations of the earth (Ephesians 1:4).

Going back to the fundamental truth:

The beauty of seeing how God set up the natural world is seeing that God’s choice and love was never based on our performance–just as the care and love owed to a baby isn’t. We did not earn it; so, we cannot lose it by performing poorly. His love of us is a gift that He freely lavishes upon anyone willing to call Him Father, Savior, and Friend.