Abiding in the Life of Christ

By John David Hicks

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 15:5).

The vine is the source of life, strength and fruit.  Abiding brings the branch into relationship with the vine.  The branch is completely dependent on the vine for life-giving nourishment.

By abiding in Christ you partake of His very nature (2 Peter 1:3).  This is the deepest relationship any human can have with God (John 17:3, 10).  “My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Gal. 2:20 NLT).

A branch draws all its life and nourishment from the vine.  As a branch you a part of the Vine, Christ—but Jesus makes it plain that if you don’t abide in His love and His Word—then you will be fruitfulness, withered, and dead spiritually. You will be cast aside.  The purpose of the branch is to bear the life of the vine.  That is where the fruit comes from.  Your faith-trust relationship is totally dependent on the vine.  Your growth and fruitfulness is based on how much nourishment you receive from the vine.

How do you abide in Christ?  1) Be conscious of His presence at all times.  2) What affects you affects Him, so share your life and struggles with Him.  3) As you receive daily His love and Word, you will be strength and bear much fruit.  You are the object of His love, grace and goodness.  When you enjoy Him as a person, the fruit naturally comes.  “This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples…  I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete” (John 15:8, 11).

Harriet Beecher Stowe’s book entitled “How to Live on Christ” states, “How does the branch bear fruit? Not by incessant effort for sunshine and air; not by vain struggles for those vivifying influences which give beauty to the blossom, and verdure to the leaf: it simply abides in the vine, in silent and undisturbed union, and blossoms and fruit appear as of spontaneous growth. How then shall the Christian bear fruit? By efforts and struggles to obtain that which is freely given; by meditations on watchfulness, on prayer, on action, on temptation, and on dangers? No!  There must be a full concentration of the thoughts and affections on Christ; a complete surrender of the whole being to Him; a constant looking to Him for grace. Christians in whom these dispositions are once firmly fixed go on calmly as the infant borne in the arms of its mother. Christ reminds them of every duty in its time and place, reproves them for every error, counsels them in every difficulty, excites them to every needful activity. In spiritual as in temporal matters they take no thought for the morrow; for they know that Christ will be as accessible tomorrow as today, and that time imposes no barrier on His love. Their hope and trust rest solely on what He is willing and able to do for them; on nothing that they suppose themselves able and willing to do for Him. Their talisman for every temptation and sorrow is their oft-repeated child-like surrender of their whole being to Him.”

This is the “abiding life in Christ.”  Out of your dependence and surrender comes the strength and fruitfulness of your life.