October 30

Abide in Me

Remain in Me, and I will remain in you. Just as no branch can bear fruit by itself unless it remains in the vine, neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in Me. — John 15:4 BSB

The truth of this analogy is clear in nature. A branch torn from a vine or a tree and lying on the ground cannot bear fruit. It cannot even live; it soon withers. The same is true in spiritual life. It would be just as unnatural to expect a professing Christian, who has stopped praying, ceased reading their Bible, and withdrawn from loving and trusting Christ, to be spiritually fruitful. A branch has no life except what flows into it from the vine or tree. In the same way, a Christian has no spiritual life except what flows from Christ, through faith, prayer, and the Word of God. We live as Christians only when Christ lives in us. As St. Paul said, "I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me: and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." All spiritual beauty in us must be the life of Christ reproduced in us, just as the foliage and fruit in a tree come from the life of the tree flowing into its branches.

A mere profession of Christianity will not produce the fruits of true Christian life. One could take a branch torn from a tree and tie it to a green tree with cords, but that would not make it fruitful. It would draw no life from the tree and would soon wither and die. Similarly, one may be outwardly connected to Christ by profession, but without a real, living connection through faith and love, Christ’s life will not flow into them, and they will remain a dead, withered branch. We must be truly in Christ and have Christ in us, or there will be no life and no fruit. We must also abide in Christ, maintaining fellowship with Him year after year, to be fruitful Christians.