I am the vine, you are the
branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me
you can do nothing. John
15:5
There are those who feel that they must be constantly
laboring for the Lord in order to meet God’s high standards. Jesus gave a clear
picture of what our relationship to Him ought to be like. He is the vine, the
source of our life. We are the branches, the place where fruit is produced. As
we receive life from Christ, the natural, inevitable result is that fruit is produced
in our lives.
In our zeal to produce “results” for our Lord, we sometimes
become so intent on fruit production that we neglect abiding in Christ. We may
feel that “abiding” is not as productive or that it takes too much time away
from our fruit production. Yet Jesus said that it is not our activity that produces fruit, it is our relationship with Him.
Jesus gave an important warning to His disciples. He
cautioned that if they ever attempted to live their Christian life apart from
an intimate relationship with Him, they would discover that they ceased to
produce any significant results. They might exert great effort for the kingdom
of God, yet when they stopped to account for their lives, they would find only
barrenness. One of the most dramatic acts Jesus ever performed was cursing a
fig tree that had failed to produce fruit (Mark 11:14). Are you comfortable in
abiding, or are you impatient to be engaged in activity? If you will remain
steadfastly in fellowship with Jesus, a great harvest will be the natural
by-product.
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