How do you Remain?

"Remain in me as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me." John 15:4

If you've been a Christ follower or attended church for any amount of time, there's a good chance you've heard this verse. It's taught on often, but sometimes we need to come back to these well-worn verses and let the Holy Spirit use them to breath a new life into us again.

As I meditated on this verse today, I began to imagine how it might sound to someone who doesn't know Jesus, hearing it for the first time. It may sound demanding or discouraging. It might feel restrictive, like a trap. But to look at the analogy Jesus chose to use, we quickly see that's not the case.

An apple doesn't feel tied down and held back because it has to stay on the tree. A grape doesn't feel trapped when it's on the vine. That's where they grow and are filled with life. If they were to be separated, the fruit would die.

To go on reading in verse 5, Jesus tells us, "Apart from me, you can do nothing."

This is a humbling statement, and the pride of our humanity may be tempted to buck against it. But it's not a threat. Jesus isn't wagging His finger here and saying we better stay with Him or else.

Rather, He's trying to illustrate that He is our source of life. It's not a threat, it's just a simple fact. Just as the grape will die without the vine and the apple without the tree, so we will be spiritually dead without Christ. He's illuminating this for us and pleading with us to choose life and stay with Him.

We see this illustrated even in the Old Testament, over and over again. Starting with the very first sin, and carrying all through scripture there's a pattern of "saw/took" and it's always followed by some kind of death and destruction.

This happens when we, as people, see something and decide it looks good without consulting our Vine (God). Then we reach out and take it, declaring that we can choose what is good apart from God. This effectively separates us from the Vine and leads to death every time.

So how do we remain in Him?

Let's try to dig a little deeper than the Sunday School answers here. What does it look like for you to truly remain in Christ day in and day out? To receive a constant flow of life from the Father through the Holy Spirit? What kind of habits do you have that pull you away from Him? How can you replace those habits with things that keep you firmly rooted in our Life-giving Vine?

Perhaps you need to really dig into scripture. Not just a 5-minute devo where you read one verse and move on, but to engage with it as if your life depends on it. Meditate on it. Wrestle with it. Know it.

Maybe it's immersing yourself in worship until everything coming into your eyes and ears draws you back to the Father.

Or perhaps it's practicing talking to God about your frustrations and hurts before you talk to anyone else. After all, He is a Wonderful Counselor (and I can vouch for that first hand!).

Please don't receive this with any amount of guilt, or feel like I'm trying to tell you how to live your life. Seek the Lord and ask Him how He wants to pour His abundant life into you.

I'm simply here to encourage you and illuminate the truth of scripture that He is our life source and to do anything apart from Him is to walk ourselves to our own death.