“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)
Communion with our Lord Jesus is a certain cure for every ill of heart and mind – walking in close fellowship with the Master makes all joys greater and burdens lighter. As we live nearer and nearer to Him all else falls far second. It is as the warmth of being close to the flame of His love. He desires to take us from “strength to strength” throughout all of life – in what we perceive are the take your breath away highs and the devasting lows which each life has plenty of, Amen? We live in a fallen and broken world yet He is forever faithful to carry us through. All else becomes vastly secondary. Pleasant but not necessary.
God desires to walk with us in the cool of the day, to uphold us with His everlasting arms and to cover us with His wings of mercy and grace. This is the choice privilege of the child of the King. His eye is ever on us for good not evil and there is abounding comfort and safety in His presence. Our roads may be difficult but our guide is sure – walking us through our Valleys of Baca (tears) – as well as rejoicing in our greatest joys. In all of life we need Jesus. His streams of Living Waters must flow continually from the Fountainhead to us or our wells soon run dry, Amen? His love is an eternal stream and our confidence comes from Him and His all-powerful strength to keep us from falling. He is the Author of our beings and the fountain of all our joys.
How do we remain in Him? First we accept Him as our Savior and Lord. We draw near to Him in prayer and through the study of His Word – hiding its Truths in our hearts - enabling us to stand firm in His revealed will through the power of the Holy Spirit – mature and fully assured. We can only bear fruit if we remain in Him. And in Him we will produce abundant fruit in keeping with our repentance with the peace that passes understanding thrown in.
As believers we are motivated by the wonder of Jesus’ love. He is both the fountain of our happiness as He is the Author of our beings. The Creator knows what the created needs. We simplify our lives by abiding. Resetting the metrics for our success in God’s eyes and not in the worlds. The world and its desires are passing away. But the one who does the will of the Father lives forever.
Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world--the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does--comes not from the Father but from the world. The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever. 1 John 2:15-17 (NIV)