Abide In Him

Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me you can do nothing. - Jesus (John 15:4-5)

We know that the fruit comes from the branch (us) not because of any merits of the branch but because it is part of the Vine, Jesus. The branch does not strive to bear fruit; all it does is stay in the vine. It is the life of the vine that brings fruit to the branches.

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. We cannot manufacture it with our own strength. We can do nothing if we do not abide in Christ Jesus.

The question is how do we abide in Jesus?

1 John 3:24 (ESV) sheds light on this topic: Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.

The person who keeps the commandment dwells in Jesus Christ. Which commandment is John referring to here? John wrote this book after the resurrection of Jesus, so this is not about the 613 commandments in the Old Testament, because Jesus fulfilled the law. So what commandment is John talking about here? Let us go up one verse: And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. (1 John 3:23 ESV).

The commandment for the New Testament believer, is to believe (putting our complete trust in, adhering to, solely depending on) in Jesus Christ. And as the result of His life in us, we will be able to keep the second part of that commandment, that is, to love one another.

When we believe in His Name, we have the confidence that He hears us when we ask for anything according to His will and if we know that He hears us, we know that we will have whatever we ask according to His will. We also know that when His words abide in us, we will receive whatever we ask of.

It all starts with believing (putting our complete trust in, adhering to, solely depending on) in Jesus Christ – not on our works, tradition, upbringing, education, culture, circumstances or the economy.