Summer of Depth Devotional Day 60

Today is Day 60 of our Summer of Depth Devotional and Reading Plan.

We made it.

For 60 days, we've been opening God's Word together. We've slowed down. We've asked questions. We've prayed. We've learned to pay attention. And hopefully, somewhere along the way, this became about more than completing a reading plan.

Because the goal was never really Day 60. The hope was that these 60 days would help form something in us that continues on Day 61.

So for our final reading, let's end with an invitation Jesus gives to His disciples. Let's dive deep into His Word one more time.

Before anything else, slow down and read: John 15:1-11.

Jesus is preparing His disciples for life after He is no longer physically beside them, and He gives them a picture they won't easily forget:

“I am the vine; you are the branches.”

A branch doesn't have life in itself. It doesn't grit its teeth and try harder to produce fruit. It stays connected to the vine, and life flows from there.

Jesus uses one word again and again in this passage:

Remain.

Remain in Me. Let My words remain in you. Stay close.

I love that as a final word for Summer of Depth because we've spent a lot of time talking about practices. Reading Scripture. Slowing down. Sabbath. Prayer. Paying attention. Letting God's Word read us.

Those things matter deeply.

But none of them are the destination.

Jesus is. Jesus says that when we remain in Him, fruit begins to grow. Love. Obedience. Joy. A life that increasingly looks like His. And fruit usually grows slowly.

You probably can't point to every way these 60 days have changed you. There may have been mornings when Scripture felt alive and others when you were distracted. Days when you felt close to God and days when you simply showed up. That's okay.

Branches don't measure themselves every morning to see whether they've grown. They remain connected to the source of life. Maybe that's the invitation as we finish.

Keep showing up.

Tomorrow, there won't be a Day 61 devotional waiting for you. But God's Word will still be there. The Holy Spirit will still be present. Jesus will still be inviting you to remain.

Open the Bible. Slow down. Ask God to open your eyes. Bring Him your real life. Let His Word challenge you, comfort you, correct you, and form you. And through all of it, keep coming back to Jesus. Because after 60 days, the goal isn't that we can say, “I finished.”

It's that we can say, “I want to keep going.”

Prayer

Jesus, thank You for meeting us in these 60 days. Thank You for Your Word and for every way You have used it to shape us, even in ways we may not recognize yet. Keep us close to You. Give us a lasting hunger for Your Word and teach us to remain in You. Let what You've begun in us continue long after this reading plan ends. We don't want to simply finish. We want to know You more. Amen.