An Indispensable Connection, Part 1

“Remain in Me, and I will 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. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in Me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing.”
John 15:4, 5 (NIV) 

Trying to live the Christian life apart from Christ indwelling you is like a branch producing fruit apart from being connected to the vine. There’s no life in it, and it cannot produce a thing. The first step toward living the Christian life is to make sure you are connected to the source of spiritual life—Jesus Christ. Only He has the power to change your life and empower you to live a life full of joy and purpose. Jesus said, “Remain in Me, and I will 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. I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in Me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing.” John 15:4, 5 (NIV). This relationship was as indispensable for Christ as it is for us. Just as we can do nothing apart from Christ, Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, the Son can do nothing by Himself; He can only do what He sees His Father doing.” John 5:19 (NIV). Major W. Ian Thomas explains it like this in his book The Indwelling Life of Christ, “In the same way that the Father, as God, was indispensable to Christ as Man in His life on earth, Christ, as God, is now indispensable to us as human beings in our lives. … To recognize and practice this truth is the nature of true repentance, and without this repentance there can be no true faith, (much less fruitfulness), for true repentance compels us to be totally dependent upon Christ as He was totally dependent upon the Father. Christ in us must do the work now as the Father in Him did the work then.” This is the secret to living the Christian life! It was how He fulfilled His purpose and how we may fulfill ours today.

Willpower, Bible study, and church attendance are not enough. You cannot reproduce the character of Jesus in your own strength. You need Jesus in you to do that!  This is the indispensable connection – Christ in you, all of Him in all of you!

Branches that are connected to the vine don’t have to try to produce fruit; they simply bear the fruit that the vine produces. Your job is not to produce anything, but to “remain in Him!” The responsibility to make things happen isn’t yours; it is God’s. Trying to behave a certain way, because we think that’s what we should do, is like tying plastic apples on an apple tree. It’s an artificial fruit. Real fruit, “much fruit,” comes from abiding or remaining in Christ!

You can relax from striving to produce fruit. Instead, press into an intimate personal relationship with Christ by spending time alone with God daily, reading the Bible, and doing what He’s telling you to do.  Make weekly worship at church a spiritual habit. You’ll be amazed at the fruit He will produce in your life as you learn to remain in Him. We’ll dig into John 15 a little deeper tomorrow.

---

 To read this devotional online or catch up on past ones, visit https://kerryshook.org/blog.

Another important part of your daily devotional is spending time with God in prayer. The Woodlands Church Prayer Board lists prayer requests submitted by our members and provides a way to send them some encouragement by using a button on the page to let them know that you prayed for them. Whether you use the Prayer Board, or pray from your heart, the goal is to build the habit of incorporating prayer into your quiet time.

Need prayer yourself? Let us know by submitting a prayer request on the Woodlands Church Prayer Board.