Abide in Me

A call to joyful dependance and fruitful living

I’ve been a follower of Jesus for a long time now and yet I have to confess, at times I find myself down and discouraged, overwhelmed with life’s circumstances, my attitude and actions far from what would be considered godly. In a word, I feel withered. A dry shell of a believer, powerless and barren.

It’s in moments like these, when I’ve reached the end of myself, that I hear in my spirit the call of three familiar words bidding me to come and find relief from my desperate condition. They are the words of my Savior, urging me to return to Him once again. “Abide in Me, Gary,” He says. “Abide in me.”

Jesus first spoke those three words to his disciples on the night he was betrayed. He knew that there would be a very real temptation for them (and us) to try to continue after him in their own strength. In our broken human nature, we gravitate toward independence. We want to work things out on our own. But that’s not the way that it should be. As new creatures in Christ, we are not orphans that need to be on the street hunting scraps, we are sons and daughters invited to sit at the King’s table. He wants us to share in his abundance and he invites us to come to Him to find rest and provision.

Unfortunately, what we often do after we have come to him and tasted his goodness is wander away from him to work things out on our own. Jesus uses the illustration of a vine and its branches to communicate the folly of that approach. It is just as ridiculous to think that a branch will live and bear fruit apart from its vine as it is for us to think we can live and bear fruit apart from the source of our life.

As Christians, we are not an independent vine that just needs care from the same gardener. No, we are part of Jesus and we’ll only find life joined to him. It’s not just inefficient for us to live apart from Him, it’s impossible. It is a lie of the devil, the same as in the Eden, that we will somehow be able to thrive in independence.

That’s why Jesus encourages us to stay (abide) with him. He says that if we do, we will live fruitful lives, our prayers will be answered, and we’ll be filled with joy. Who wouldn’t want that? I know that I do! And he tells us plainly that if we don’t, if we choose to part ways with Jesus and strike out on our own, we will not be at all fruitful. We will lose our spiritual strength and be as useful as a dried up branch.

Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. (John 15:4-5 NIV)

We were born again into the Vine and it is our purpose to bear His fruit. We should not be satisfied eeking out a withered and barren existence. We are to be made new in the Spirit, yielding spiritual fruit (as opposed to fleshly fruit) as described in Galatians.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. (Galatians 5:22-23 NASB)

One big obstacle that I face when it comes to abiding in the Lord is my aversion to dependence. I was raised early on by a determined single-mother and then later I was strongly influenced by my John-Wayne-like step dad. When I struck out on my own, my goal was to not depend on anyone. Even to this day, dependence still feels like weakness to me.

But I’m learning.

I see from God’s word that dependence on Jesus does not mean I am weak, it just means that the strength I will have is not my own. I look at Paul, the apostle. When he writes to the Philippians, he is imprisoned, kept from the missionary work he wants to do, the work he was called to do. He lacked basic freedom and resources, yet his writing overflows with joy. In the midst of hardship and want, he proclaims, “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:13 NASB). He knew what it meant to abide.

I love this description of abiding in Jesus from 19th century bishop, JC Ryle:

“To abide in Christ means to keep up a habit of constant close communion with Him–to be always leaning on Him, resting on Him, pouring out our hearts to Him, and using Him as our Fountain of life and strength, as our chief Companion and best Friend. To have His words abiding in us, is to keep His sayings and precepts continually before our memories and minds, and to make them the guide of our actions and the rule of our daily conduct and behavior.”

May it be like that in my life and yours!

I’ll leave you with a song that I recently discovered. It’s called Abide, by Aaron Williams (link below), and serves as a beautiful example of what it looks like to respond to Jesus’ invitation to abide in him. Enjoy!