July 10

I am the vine and you are the branches. The one who remains in Me, and I in him, will bear much fruit. For apart from Me you can do nothing. — John 15:5 BSB

Without a union with Christ, we have no spiritual existence. We can confidently say that we no more have a spiritual being in the mind of God apart from Christ than a branch has an independent existence apart from the vine in which it grows. If we look at the image of the vine and the branches, we see how all the fruitfulness of the branch depends on its union with the vine. Whatever life the branch has, it flows from the vine; whatever strength it has, it comes from its union with the vine; whatever leaves or fruit it produces, they all come from its connection with the vine. This is true whether the branch is large or small. From the thickest limb of a tree to the tiniest twig, all are connected to the vine and all receive life and nourishment from it.

So it is with grace. Not only is our very being as children of God tied to our union with Christ, but also our well-being. All our understanding of heavenly things, all our faith, hope, and love—in fact, all our grace, whether great or small, whether we are spiritual infants or mature believers—comes from our personal, spiritual, and experiential union with the Lord Jesus. For we are nothing except what we are in him, and we possess nothing except what we have through our union with him.