Abide.
What does this mean?
Original meaning of this word is to remain, to survive, to last, persist.
If you think about it in gardening terms, a Vine is the source, the root and beginning of the plant. The branches grow out from it and produce leaves and grapes.... or not.
Sometimes, for a various number of reasons, a branch doesn’t produce leaves or grapes. It withers and must be cut off.
Jesus gives us this analogy in John 15 so we can understand our relationship to Him. He is our supply, our nourishment, our equipping, our empowerment, our daily bread.
How would it be if a branch decided to cut itself off of the life source and tried to replant itself in another soil, denying that its deepest need is filled from its original source?
It would begin the process of dying the second it was severed from the Vine.
No life source= no life
So what is fruit?
Fruit, in this story, is evidence. Just like in court how there’s evidence required to prove something, your life produces evidence of something. What does your life prove? What do your daily choices say about your heart?
Is the fruit of proof or evidence in your life the kind that says “I rest in the Lord each day for my nourishment and strength, like a branch receiving strength from a vine”
..... or....
Does your fruit look more like a withering branch, sour grapes, or no grapes, wilted leaves, or just dead because you’ve leaned into your own self, believed in self alone, and chosen to go it alone, apart from the vine?
What is the cause of this?
Things that keep us from producing good fruit can be distractions, or circumstances, or calculated choices. The bottom line is that they all originate with pride. We think we know best, we’ve got better ideas, or we think we can figure it out, or have to. That everything sits on our shoulders to work it out.
Abide in the shadow of the Most High (from Psalm 91) means stay close, His presence is of utmost importance to you, keep your thoughts centered on Him, ask God to show you what He’s doing. Tell Him you want to be used and to take part in what He’s doing. Ask Him for direction in your next steps and then actually wait for Him to guide you instead of then trying to work it out on your own, or preparing a backup plan in case God Himself doesn’t come through.
It’d be like the branch having a backup plan in case the Vine didn’t supply it water, life and sustaining power.
Of course the Vine will provide.
The branch belongs to the Vine, it is part of the Vine's body. The Vine desires that the branch lives healthy and victoriously produces fruit.
He is your Vine. You are the Branch.
Stop choosing self, or the world, and Abide in your Vine, your giver of life and power to live.
What I have learned about Abiding
Abiding daily reminds me to rest in Him only, and not in my strength, to stop trying to be the Holy Spirit in my loved ones lives. That is my human heart's desire, is to be in control and impactful and able to steer them. In that state, I am completely forgetting the tremendous work that God was able to do in my own stubborn heart to overcome my sinfulness and produce a transformed person.
My mind and heart need to abide in Him in a desperate and compulsive way that if I don’t, I’m going to surely be in sin. If I drift, I need to recapture that urgency, the thirst for my true nourishment. My Vine.
What a terrifying thought... to abide in me and not Him.
The choice seems clear.
Abide or Strive in Self
Life and Nourishment VS Dried up and Insufficient
Empowered to Grow VS Striving but Dying
Vibrant and Fruit Bearing VS Withered and Fruitless
