Abide in Me

John 15:4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me.

I preached on this passage a few weeks ago. I've had many conversations on this idea of abiding in Christ. Truly it is a key to spiritual growth in the life of a Christian. Especially since Jesus tells us straight up, "Apart from me you can do nothing."

Imagine if you planted a tree in your front yard, but after awhile, you decided it would look better in the backyard. Then after a few months, you realized it would better in the front yard. So, you dig it up and plant it again in the front yard. Not only will that tree fail to flourish, it will struggle to survive.

Yet many people are like that with God. They decide to go to church, read their Bible, and pray regularly. They do this for a month, and then they uproot themselves and disappear for a few months. Then they come back again. Then they uproot themselves and go back to the old life again. Eventually they come back and are at it again. But they never truly mature and grow spiritually that way.

Jesus calls us to abide in Him. That is the secret to spiritual growth: to abide. Abiding means staying in a given place. For believers, it means to maintain unbroken fellowship with god. It means regularity. It means consistency. And it results in producing lasting fruit in the believer's life.

Another way of abiding is walking with God daily. As 1 John 2:6 says, "He who says he abides in Him ought to himself walk just as He walked." Walking speaks of consistent motion. That means making time for the Word of God and for prayer with consistency. If you are too busy, then get up earlier. God to bed earlier. You will find time for what is important to you.

The true mark of conversion is the test of time and results in your life. So ask yourself right now and be honest...are you producing spiritual fruit?