What does it mean to abide in Christ?
It means to stay connected to Him, to draw our life from Him, to make Him our source of strength and nourishment. With what is happening in the world today this is so important.
We have to live in a constant dependence on Him, acknowledging our need for Him at every moment. It means to keep His words in our hearts, to let them shape our thoughts, our attitudes, and our actions. It means to keep the lines of communication open, through prayer, through worship, through meditation on His word.
It’s a commitment to keep coming back to Him, to keep drawing our life from Him.
Just as a branch connected to the vine bears fruit, we too, when we abide in Christ, will bear the fruit of the Spirit. These are not fruits that we can produce on our own, but they are the natural outcome of our abiding relationship with Christ.
Sometimes, it involves pruning, the cutting away of things in our lives that are not bearing fruit. This can be painful, but it’s necessary for our growth and fruitfulness. Just as a gardener prunes a vine to make it more fruitful, God sometimes prunes us, cutting away things in our lives that are hindering our growth and fruitfulness.
Having an active relationship with Christ involves a constant interaction with Him, a constant receiving from Him, a constant yielding to Him. It’s a relationship that requires effort, discipline, and perseverance. But it’s also a relationship of love, joy, and peace.
In reality we need to live out our daily lives in our relationships, in our work, in our service. It’s something that we need to keep reminding ourselves of, to keep striving for, to keep praying for.
Title: Vine-Cultivation; Date: 1220-1240; Building: Cathédrale d’Amiens; Object/Function: Relief sculpture; Material: Stone; City/Town: Amiens; Country: France; Scripture: John 15:1-8. Notes: Quatrefoil on the western exterior, depicting vine-cultivation, which is the Labor of the Month for March. Donated by James T. Womack and Anne Richardson, Nashville, TN. Permalink: https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=29307. (Use this link to refer back to this image.)
