Good morning people who reproduce the image of God by staying connected to Him.

Proverbs 11:28 MEV He who trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous will flourish as a branch.

Where we put our trust matters. If it is in riches, we will fall (I love the clarity and directness of the Bible). This is not saying that having money is wrong, it’s not. But money having us and us putting our confidence in how much money we have is wrong. Never forget, Jehovah Jirech is our Provider.

But it is the next part of the verse that I want to specifically lean into today: the righteous will flourish as a branch.

I’m drawn towards how the righteous will flourish. Actually, let’s back it up one step first and look at the word flourish – it means to break forth as a bud, to bloom. It’s really talking about being fruitful. Now, let’s looks at the phrase as a branch.

The fruitfulness of our lives – the breaking forth as a bud and the blooming – is not as we want it to be. It’s not something we choose based on what we want. Our fruitfulness is as a branch, which means a leaf coming up on a tree, or a branch.

And here’s my point: the fruit on a branch comes from the tree that the branch is connected to. It truly is that simple and that unavoidable.

You will never get apples off a branch that is attached to an orange tree. It’s not possible because what God created reproduces after its own kind. This is an irreversible law of God.

As people who have been created in the image of God and as spiritually born-again children of God, we are to reproduce His image through our lives, not just our own. Be fruitful in Genesis 1:28 literally means reproduce the image of God that we were made in. The pattern hasn’t changed!

Here’s a verse that sums it up brilliantly:

John 15:5 MEV “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who remains in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit. For without Me you can do nothing.”

May we all stay connected to the Vine and reproduce fruit from the Vine.