ABIDING IN CHRIST AS HE ABIDES IN US

GREETINGS IN THE NAME OF JESUS:


We should never be alone from the time we come to Christ and throughout our lives when trying to bear spiritual fruit.  There are many people who claim to be in Christ today who have been trying to do things for Christ according to the dictates of what this world tells them are the best ways and the most important things of life, and quite frankly they are being deceived.

  Before we can bear fruit in Christ we have to be in Christ. That first step is in humbling ourselves before God and accepting His Lordship over our lives completely, and I am afraid that most of those among us who have readily claimed Jesus have never yet made Him Lord.

John 15: 4-17 finds Jesus dealing with this problem. John 15: 4-5 says: " Abide in me, and I abide in you. As a branch cannot bear fruit on its own except it abides in the vine you cannot either unless you abide in me. I am the vine and you are the branches, he that abides in me and I in him the same will bring forth much fruit, for without me you can do nothing".

  The idea of abiding in Christ is to live every day being subject to His desires for us and not our own desires and wants.  It is because as our Lord we belong to Him alone and are no longer owners of ourselves.  I am sorry to say but that does not always happen when we first come to Christ, and for many of us in the church we have as yet not even done that. Many have perhaps grown up in the church, but that is not the same as growing up in Christ.  There is a point in our lives where we must come to a decision on our own about our relationship with Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.  By that I mean there is a time that comes when we must stop talking about our faith and begin to actually live it. That is the time when we begin to abide in Christ and He in us.  That is the time when we will automatically start to bear spiritual fruit.
 John 15:6-9 " If a man does not abide in me he is cast forth as a branch that is withered, and men gather them and cast them into the fire to be burned. If you abide in me and my words abide in you can ask what you want and it will be done for you. Because of this, my Father is glorified because you bear much fruit so shall you be my disciples. As the Father has loved me so have I loved you so continue in my love." We may think that God will not cast us away if we say we love Him and if we live a good life, and take care of our family, but this tells us that we need to do more than that...we must bear spiritual fruit.

 Dear ones so many times we think of things in terms of what is right and wrong in our own minds, and in doing so we are fooled by the world around us into thinking our wisdom is good enough. The truth is that our wisdom in spiritual situations is absolutely no good for us.  As long as we are relying on our own ability to do good for Good we will never bear any real spiritual fruit and in God's eyes if we are not producing we are seen as a dead or withering branch that has been given a chance by perhaps being grafted into the vine at some point, but for some reason we have not taken but are just taking from life without producing or growing.  We will be cut off or pruned just like one would cut dead branches off of something that they wanted to grow and be beautiful.  Are you producing spiritual fruit in Christ? or are you trying to do good things in the name of Christ?

 Jesus goes on in this chapter through verse 17 to deal with the fact that if we really did love Him we would keep His commandments. If we keep these commandments then we will be able to abide in Him not just as a rule of law, but because we actually are proving our love for Him and what He has done for us by living out those things He has told us in our hearts.  Allow God to embrace you as you abide in Him today. May you richly bless God through your life in Him.



THE UNWORTHY SERVANT