I was watering my garden and noticed that my tomato plants had some ripe fruit ready for me to pick. It was a joy to see the tomatoes there because I wasn’t even trying to grow a tomato plant this year. This plant had sprung up from some old seeds that had fallen on the ground from last year. The only thing I’ve mostly been doing has been watering the plant; it has produced fruit all on its own without much effort.

Jesus promises us the same in John 15:5, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” We are...