We Need to Abide

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the farmer. Every branch in me that doesn’t bear fruit, he takes away. Every branch that bears fruit, he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. You are already pruned clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I in you. As the branch can’t bear fruit by itself unless it remains in the vine, so neither can you, unless you remain in me. I am the vine. You are the branches. He who remains in me and I in him bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If a man doesn’t remain in me, he is thrown out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them, throw them into the fire, and they are burnt. If you remain in me, and my words remain in you, you will ask whatever you desire, and it will be done for you.

“In this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; and so you will be my disciples. Even as the Father has loved me, I also have loved you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and remain in his love. I have spoken these things to you, that my joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be made full.” 
–– John 15:1-11

The Apostle John wins the prize for reminding us the most times that we need to stay focused on God, Jesus and God’s Word. Through his Gospel and two of his letters, John reminds us no less than 26 times:

John 3:36; John 6:56; John 14:17; John 15:4; John 15:5; John 15:6; John 15:7; John 15:9; John 15:10; 1 John 2:6; 1 John 2:10; 1 John 2:14; 1 John 2:24; 1 John 2:27; 1 John 2:28; 1 John 3:6; 1 John 3:9; 1 John 3:14; 1 John 3:17; 1 John 3:24; 1 John 4:12; 1 John 4:13; 1 John 4:15; 1 John 4:16; 2 John 1:2; 2 John 1:9.

In every Scripture passage John uses the Greek verb transliterated as menó. The word means to stay, to remain, to abide. John must have realized how much we are shaped and directed by our surroundings. Just like the computer adage “garbage in, garbage out,” what comes out of us—what we say and do—is a direct reflection of what we put into us.

John’s passion for abiding may have come from sensing the importance of Jesus’ parable of the vine and the branches. When we abide, we bear fruit, and the more we abide the more God can prune us so that we bear even more fruit. When we abide our prayers are more powerful because our heart is more in line with our Father’s heart, and we better know what to ask for and how to ask it. When we are not abiding, we are basically good for nothing, at least as far as our usefulness to God is concerned. The important parts of us become as dry and brittle as kindling for the fire. For God’s sake and for ours, we really need to abide.

Father, I thank You for wanting to be with me every moment of the day—to influence all that I think, say and do. I ask Your forgiveness for not always wanting the same for myself. I rededicate myself to abide in You. Help me to grow, to bear much fruit, and not to wander from You. For apart from You, I can do nothing. In Jesus’ name I pray, amen.

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