“Remain in me, as I also remain in you” (John 15:4).

I like blueberries. I have them just about every day. But there’s one thing about them that I never liked.

In every package there’s always a few of them with a little piece of the stem still attached. It’s not a big stem or anything. Just a tiny mini-twig that’s barely noticeable. But once you do notice them, you can’t stop looking for them and picking them out.

One day I noticed something unexpected. A carton of blueberries was lost in the back of our fridge for at least a month. When I finally found it and opened it up, the blueberries were all shriveled up. All, that is, except for the ones with stems in them. Somehow the stems allowed them to stay fresh longer. So even though the stems seem like an inconvenience, they don’t bother me so much now.

Many people in the world won’t like you because of your faith. It might make you stick out as different and unappealing. And because of that, there might be times when you hide your faith or even detach yourself from it.

But take a lesson from the blueberry. Just like a blueberry shrivels without its stem, so also you become empty without Jesus. So stick with it. Even though it’s so easy to go along with the crowd, keep the stem.