Abide in Me, and I will abide in you. The branch cannot itself produce fruit, unless it abides on the vine. Likewise, you cannot produce fruit unless you abide in Me.
“I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for apart from Me, you can do nothing.
John 15:4-5
How do we abide in Christ?
Jesus is speaking of the fruit of the Spirit in our lives. This can be our witness, our walk with Him, our joy and peace, and of course, all the fruits.
This can only come when we submit to Christ who is our Gardner our Caretaker, accepting His pruning and drawing even more deeply from Him.
Drawing close to our Heavenly Father and being obedient to his Word will be key to abiding in Him.
If a branch remains attached to the vine in such a way that it is receiving all the nutrients the branch has to give, then that is a picture of what John means by believing or trusting Jesus, abiding in and allowing Him to nurture us.
As a branch needs life source, we have never seen a branch that has been cut off from a tree that is still budding. When the branch is connected to the vine, the vine does all the work; the branch does not. The branch simply rests in the vine and waits patiently for the fruit to appear.
Anyone who goes too far, runs ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son.
2 John 1:9
Now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears, we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming.
1 John 2:28
As for you, let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father.
1 John 2:24-25
The one who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. We know by this that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us.
1 John 3:24
Many times we try to do it on our own, but we can’t. Because apart from Christ, we can do nothing.
We must abide in Christ, we must trust Him. We must be obedient to Christ and allow Him to do His perfect will in our lives.
Many blessings,
Connie
