I was putting away Christmas ornaments at work (which is ironic as I hate putting away Christmas decorations and always manage to get out of that job at home!) and as I was taking down these beautiful glass baubles, one detached itself from the silver string, fell to the floor, and shattered.
The noise was loud, the mess great, and the shiny, sharp, splinters spread themselves far and wide across the office floor.
Because, as you'd expect, when the link between the bauble and its string was broken, the bauble itself was no longer supported and as such it fell and broke.
We are created to be attached to Jesus. Without Him, we're at risk of our lives shattering and fragmenting into what might feel like a billion little pieces of dangerously sharp brokenness. To pick up one of those shards by hand would have put me of risk at getting injured. In the same way, brokenness in our lives leaves others susceptible to getting hurt by coming too close or being in our vicinity. Our own traumatic crashes run the risk of leaving a mess all over the place that can cause others to trip up in its wake.
So how do we prevent ourselves from falling away from that which keeps us whole?
We were made for union with God, we were made to be "vitally united" to Him (John 15:4 APMC) and when that tie is severed or broken, when we are "cut off" from Him, our lives will no longer bear the good fruit that God designed for us to bear and we can "do nothing" (v.5). As we read more about being connected to Jesus in John 15:2-10 we see that the way to remain connected is through keeping His commandments and continually obeying His instructions (v.10).
For that bauble to have remained whole, it needed to continually remain connected to the string.
It's the same for us friends, we need to continually and consistently keep our union with the Lord strong and we do that by honouring Him with our obedience.
Where might there be frayed strands in your connection to the Lord currently? Confess these to Him now so you can strengthen that union and continue to bear the good fruit that honours and glorifies the Father (v.8).