We are continuing in the study of what Abiding in Christ means, we have come to the understanding that abiding in Christ means that a person walks and is in fellowship with Him. We already noted the words of the prophet Amos - "Can two walk together, unless they are agreed?" If we are in fellowship with God, we are walking with Christ in an intimate and continual way. Our verse on the left - John 15:7 causes us to muse over the factor that having the Word of God abiding in us, gives us the power to live our lives as we should.
When Jesus was speaking these words to His disciples, He was talking in a metaphoric way using the picture of a grape vine. Possibly they were standing in the midst of a vineyard, and thus the picture was very clear to those He was talking too.
They were looking at a vine - and they could see His imagery of His words very plainly. Jesus compared Himself to the vine - that part of the plant that connected with the earth and brought the water and nutrients to the branches - who then took it to the fruit. As long as a branch remained connected to, attached to the main vine, it received the power to continue living. And, with this power, the branch is able to produce the fruit that is expected from it. The grapes (fruit) received its life from the branch, which received it from the vine.
A Christian is to produce fruit - we find the description of this fruit in Galatians 5:22-23 - and this fruit is Christlikeness. We are incapable of truly being Christlike under our own power. We need to receive this power from somewhere - and that comes directly from Christ. For us to have the power to live our lives as we should, we must be abiding in Christ. To be Christlike, we MUST receive the power to do this from Jesus Himself, and we must abide (fellowship) with Him completely.
Today, muse over the ways that you abide in Christ - and seek for the power to live life as you should.
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