Magic Sinks

Following the end of World War I thirty-two countries sent delegates to the Paris Peace Conference to discus how they, as the victorious Allied Powers, would negotiate the terms of the surrender. The United Kingdom sent Thomas Lawrence, who had earned the nickname “Lawrence of Arabia” because of his good reputation among the Arab tribes. During the conference several key Arab leaders stayed in the same hotel as Lawrence, and they were astonished to see faucets that produced water simply by turning the handle; sinks and bathtubs were such a foreign concept to these Middle Eastern diplomats. When the conference was over Lawrence discovered that his Arabian friends had managed to disconnect several of the faucets and pack them away in their luggage, believing that the devices themselves could produce water.

Lawrence had to break it to these men that the faucets had no water supply of their own, and that they were only useful if they were tapped into a source of water. While those who have even an elementary understanding of plumbing would think it ridiculous to steal a faucet in hopes of it producing water, many try something similar with their walk with Christ. In John 15 Jesus declared Himself to be the true vine, and His followers are the branches. As long as the branch abides in the vine, it can produce fruit, but “as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me (v.4).”

The only way for a Christian to live a fruitful life is to stay connected to the vine. On our own we are like faucets, conduits through which life-giving water can flow, but only if they have been attached to the water supply line. Disconnect the faucet, and it is only a piece of metal; connect it again, and water will come streaming through. That is how Christians are meant to live—connected to the vine and producing good fruit. Are you connected to the vine? If you haven’t felt too productive lately you may need to be reconnected.

We stay connected to the Vine when we stay in fellowship with our Lord and live our lives for Him, but things can come along the way and distract us. We get “too busy,” we make compromises, and we slip into a pattern of sin. When we do those things we will find ourselves severed from the vine, but if we will repent and come back to Christ, He will graft us back in.