Are You Abiding In Christ?
Much of the Christian life is relational, and we must see that reality, if we are going to have a successful Christian walk. Jesus picked 12 disciples to walk with, and to pour his life into them so that they would think and act like him. He only had three and a half years to cause this conversion of heart and mind. A disciple by nature is to be like their teacher, so he was constantly challenging their thinking, so that they would think with a kingdom perspective.
How are you thinking? Are you thinking with a kingdom perspective? Just like Jesus relied on the Father, he taught the disciples to rely upon him. He uses the metaphor of the vine and the branch of the vine. He wanted the disciples to see how they must be vitally connected to the vine in order to produce fruit. They were to understand that their relationship with him was to be much more than casual.
Jesus in claiming to be the vine, was claiming himself as source of vital life. He was the source of life, and the disciples were to get their life from him. The only way that they could do that, was to abide in him as the source. John 15:1-10 gives us a powerful picture of the need for a vital connection between us and Jesus Christ. In the very first verse, Jesus deals with the need for connection, He states that He is the vine and his Father is the caretaker. The branch that does not bear fruit he takes it away. The only way that a branch is not going to bear fruit, is if it is not vitally connected to the vine. The branch that’s connected to the vine bears fruit and gets pruned, so that it will bear more fruit.
Jesus used the word abide ten times in that chapter of John. That means that abiding is a very important concept to understand. What does it mean to abide? It means: to remain, stay, tarry, wait and to continue in. Many professing Christians wonder why their lives aren’t bearing fruit and the main problem is, that they do not abide in Jesus the vine. They made a profession of faith, then went of and chose to live life on their own terms. They don’t spend time in the word of God or prayer, which are two key spiritual habits that must be developed in order to have any connection to Christ whatsoever. They don’t remain in Christ as their vital source of life.
Jesus wouldn’t have addressed this problem if he didn’t know that it could become a problem for his disciples. He was telling them to abide in him while he was walking on the face of this earth. He couldn’t have meant that they were to abide in him at the time of him teaching them about it. They spent every waking hour with him daily. He knew that they would have opportunity to not abide in him, when he left this earth to go and be with the Father. He wanted to establish in them the understanding that without him they could not produce fruit and could do nothing. John 15:4,5. They had to abide in him as their life source.
He stated, that if anyone did not abide in him, they were thrown away as a branch and dries up, and are gathered up and cast into the fire and they are burned. Those who do not abide in the vine are worthless to the vine because they have no life in themselves. The Holy Spirit represents Jesus Christ on the earth today. We are to abide in Jesus Christ by abiding in the Holy Spirit. We need to spend as much time in the word and prayer as we can, in order to cultivate a relationship with the Holy Spirit. That’s how we learn to abide in him. He is the life of God, the eternal life. Eternal life is relational. The meaning of eternal life, is to know intimately the Father and the Son. John 17:3
It’s imperative that we decide to abide in Jesus Christ by cultivating an ongoing relationship with the Holy Spirit. If we want to please the Lord and bear much fruit, then we must abide in the vine, the source, Jesus Christ.
