Year 5, Day 263: John 15

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Discipleship Focus: Abide

• Abide: This is a moment, day, or even a season when we focus on God.  It is a time when we are rejuvenated by God.  It is the time for us to gather up what we will need for the coming growth after a season of pruning.  However, abiding is not the end.  We abide so that we can grow, bear fruit, prune, and abide again.

This is a classic passage for looking at abiding.  Jesus even tells us in the majority of this chapter that we are to abide in Him so that He will also abide in us.  Jesus knows that abiding is the place to start when looking to order our life in obedience.

Jesus is clear about another thing in this passage, too.  We cannot bear fruit on our own.  If we are the branches, we cannot bear fruit without the vine.  If we do not take time to abide in Christ, we will not have good fruit.

This is really an important passage.  So often the focus of our life is on the fruit.  We tend to put the emphasis on the fruit.  We tend to evaluate based on the fruit.  Clearly, fruit is important.  But in order to have good fruit, we cannot forget to abide.  We need to realize that everything we are comes from the Father.  We must be fed by the Father in order to genuinely bear fruit worth having.

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